
Don'Antonio^Lopez de Santa Anna. 



MEXICO 



MILITARY CHIEFTAINS, 



FROM THE REVOLUTION OF HIDALGO TO THE PRESENT TIME' 



COMPRISING SKETCHES OF THE LIVES 



raDALGO, MORELOS, ITURBIDE, SANTA ANNA, GOMEZ FARIAS, 

BUSTAMENTE, PAREDES, ALMONTE, ARISTA, ALAMAN, 

AMPUDIA, HERRERA, AND DE LA VEGA. 



BY FAY. ROBINSON. 



Kllustratcti feg ^rtodbe 3.3ottraits aiilj 2Sngrabiitfl». 



HARTFORD, CONN.: 

SILAS ANDRUS & SON. 

1851. 



Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by 

E. H. BUTLER & Co., 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court in and for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. 



g.^O'J 



/ 



ilL 



PEEFACE. '7 



While an invalid several years ago, and resident of more 
than one of the ports of the "American Mediterranean," I 
whiled away many weary hours in coUectmg materials for a 
far more elaborate work than this, on the history and the 
revolutions, not only of Mexico, but of the states of the 
southern continent. With this view I searched several con- 
ventual libraries, and found curious documents, which amply 
recompensed me for the time and labor thus expended. 

Circumstances which it is now unnecessary to refer to more 
particularly, had made me almost forget, and for a time 
entirely neglect this scheme ; when it was suggested to me, 
thaT for want of some such book as this, the peculiar policy of 
Mexico and its aen was almost unintelligible. Such was the 
occasion of this work, in which I have sought to present a fair 
vie\T of the past condition of the self-named repubHc, and to 
( • ."e the origin of that series of events which have made it 

' victim of successive revolutions, each of which has left 
the country in a worse condition than when the tenor of 
circumstances was interrupted by the preceding convulsion. 

I once knew a person who had passed the greater part of 
a long Hfe in the neighborhood of Niagara, without having seen 
it, and was ultimately induced to visit the great cataract, 
because a foot-race took place in its immediate vicinity. 
Similar in many respects seems the neglect by the people of 
the United States of the history of our neighbors, who have pre- 
sented to the world as many pure self-sacrificing men as any 
other nation, at the same time that they have perhaps 
exhibited in a short period more despicable characters than 
have disgraced the annals of any other people. Recent events 



VI PREFACE. 

have, however, rendered all that relates to Mexico important, 
and absolve me from any apology of this kind. 

I might make many acknowledgments of the sources 
whence I have drawn information of things, which occurred 
too long ago for me to have been a contemporary, or at least 
to have remembered them. Among the facts I have thus 
been enabled to present to the reader, are included no small 
portion of the life of General Guadalupe Victoria, from Ward's 
" Mexico," and a part of the history of the castle of San Juan 
de Ulua, from the "Life in Mexico" of Madame Calderon de 
la Barca. 

I have carefully read all the books of travels I could obtain, 
and also many minor sketches, for the most part anonymous ; 
a sheaf of letters in French and German, I have also been 
kindly permitted to examine, and from them have drawn 
many hints. 

The additional chapter will be found principally a collation 
of official documents, which it was believed would give a 
better idea of the present war than any sketch which could 
be crowded into so small a space as I was restricted to, when 
the course of my story had brought me to the days in which 
they occurred. 

Many of the opinions inculcated in this book, especially in 
relation to the peculiar ecclesiastical position of Mexico, may 
seem paradoxical j and it may not, therefore, be improper to 
state distinctly and precisely the idea sought to be conveyed. 
I have wished to show that it would not be less reasonable 
for the Roman Catholic to attribute to the Reformed churches 
the dogmatism and the crudities of many of the current isms 
of the day, which fritter aw^ay most of the essentials of faith, 
than is a disposition sometimes evinced to hold the Roman 
Catholic church responsible for the countless Indian super- 
stitions engrafted in Mexico on its traditions. 

There are many other points to which I would be pleased 
to refer, but as it is impossible to touch on all, I will end 
at once, dedicating to my countrymen these records of their 
enemies. F. R. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. — Mexico under the Viceroys. 
Extent of the viceroyalty of Mexico — Form of govern- 
ment— Taxes— The clergy— Education— Classes of the 
people — Topography — Political divisions . . Page 13 

CHAPTER IL— The Revolution. 

Abdication of the Bourbons in Spain — Effects in Spain 

Effects in Mexico— Supreme central junta resigns— 
Change in the Spanish constitution — Insurrections in 
America — Vanegas appointed viceroy — Hidalgo . . 24 

CHAPTER in. — The Revolution subsequent to the death 
OF Hidalgo. 

Guerilla warfare— National junta— Manifesto of the revo- 
lutionists— Morelos— Evacuation of Cuautla— Expedition 
against Oaxaca—Valladolid— Morelos defeated— Expe- 
dition to Tehuacan— Morelos taken prisoner— Executed 44 

CHAPTER IV.— Revolution— From the death of Morelos, 
December 22d, 1816. to 1820. 

Dissolution of the Mexican congress— New Spanish con- 
stitution — Battles in Texas — Teran— Rayon— Nicolas 
Bravo— Guadalupe Victoria— Mina— Gloomy aspect of 
the revolutionary cause 57 



Viii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER v.— Don Augustino Iturbidk. 

Rise of Iturbide— His services in the Spanish cause — Plan 
of Iguala—O'DonojU— Treaty of Cordova— Iturbide pro- 
claimed emperor — Abdicates — His ''Statement" — ^Re- 
turns to Mexico — Arrested and executed — Republican 
constitution framed 76 

CHAPTER VI.— Mexican Republic. 

Recognition by the United States of the independence of 
the revolted colonies of Spain — Congress of Panama — 
Mr. Poinsett plenipotentiary to Mexico — Treaty of 
alliance and commerce — Boundary question — Victoria 
president — Influence of Masonry on politics — Triumph 
of the Yorkino party 141 

CHAPTER VII.— Santa Anna. 

Santa Anna — Mango de Clavo — Pronounces against Itur- 
bide — President — Zacatecas — Texan War — Revolution 
— Exile — ProclamatioUj &c 153 



CHAPTER VIII. — Valentino Gomez Farias and Anastasio 

BUSTAMENTE. 

Farias an opponent of Iturbide — Elected vice-president — 
Attempts to obtain liberal institutions — Congress sus- 
pends its sessions — Farias banished — Returns to Mexico 
— Pronounces against Bustamente's government — His 
attempt defeated — Early life of Bustamente — Election 
to the presidency — Banished — ^Returns to Mexico — His 
second election to the presidency — Resigns . . .238 



CHAPTER IX. — Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga and Don 
Juan Nepomuceno Almonte. 

Election of Herrera — Paredes pronounces against him — 
Herrera deposed — Paredes elected president — Deposed 



CONTENTS. IX 

— Imprisoned — Escapes to Europe — Almonte — ^Battle of 
San Jacinto — Almonte sent minister to England and 
France — His character 243 



CHAPTER X. — ^DoN Mariano Arista and other General 
Officers. 

Arista — Jarochos — Campaign in the department of Vera 
Cruz — Duran' s insurrection — Insurrection quelled — 
Arista ordered to the Rio Grande — Ampudia — Battle of 
Mier — Naval action — La Vega 252 



CHAPTER XI. — Don Lucas Alaman and Don Joaquin 
Herrera. 

Alaman — His personal appearance — Character — ^Visits Eu- 
rope — Appointed minister of foreign affairs — ^Reforms in 
the government of Mexico — Execution of Guerrero — 
Banco de avio — Revolution — Alaman again elevated to 
office — Bustamente deposed — Alaman establishes a 
cotton manufactory — His failure — Made muiister of 
foreign affairs in 1842 — Herrera — His character . . 266 



CHAPTER XII. 
The City and Valley of Mexico— The Church . . .284 

ADDITIONAL CHAPTER. 

Causes of the present war — Mexican spoliations — Annex- 
ation of Texas to the United States — Palo Alto — Resaca 
de la Palma — Monterey — Buena Vista — Vera Cruz — 
Cerro Gordo 304 



NOTE. 

As the words pronunciar^ pronunciamento, and pronunciados 
are frequently used in the following pages, it may not be im- 
proper to define precisely their meanings. When any body of 
men, civil or military, declare their opposition to the govern- 
ment, and their intention to support any particular chief or 
principle, they are said pi'onunciar, to pronounce; they are 
called pronunciados, persons who have pronounced ; and their 
act is styled a pronunciamento or pronunciation. 

The two or three days' talk or powwowing which precedes 
the pronunciamento, is called el grito, or cry ; and when the 
whole is complete, the result announced to the world is said to 
be a plan. 

Such things are common in Mexico, where an obscure priest, 
the alcalde of an Indian puehla, and a non-commissioned officer 
of civicos or national guard, have more than once proclaimed a 
system or plan for the regeneration of the world. 



Erkatum.— P. 65, 9th line from foot, for I have read they. 



MEXICO 



AND 



HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 



CHAPTER I. 

MEXICO UNDER THE VICEROYS. 

Extent of the viceroyalty of Mexico — Form of goverment — 
Taxes — ^The clergy — Education — Classes of the people — 
Topography — Political divisions. 

By far the most beautiful portion of all the possessions 
of Spain in America, which extended from the mouth 
of the Sabine, with but few interruptions, except the 
Brazils, to the fortieth degree of south latitude on the 
Atlantic, and on the Pacific from the forty-second degree 
north to the fortieth south, was the viceroyalty of Mex- 
ico. It occupied a portion of the globe, towards which 
nature has • been peculiarly beneficent, where every 
mountain was the seat of mines, and where in contra- 
diction of the rule which condemns to sterility re- 
gions which abound in mineral wealth, every fruit of 
every clime grew in proximity. It was strewn with vast 
and venerable ruins, which even now astonish the trav- 
eller and reveal to him the monumental history of a by- 
gone people, the great resources and peculiar civiliza- 
tion of whom constituted but a portion of its power. 
The vice-kingdom of Mexico was of far greater extent 
1* 



14 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIETAINS. 

than the old Aztec Empire, and Galvez and Iturrigaray 
ruled over nations and countries of the existence of which 
Montezuma and his ancestors were ignorant. It em- 
braced people of many languages and habits, originally 
with different laws and peculiar creeds, all of which had 
been annihilated by a long series of oppression and 
reduced to one level, that of slavery and degradation. 
How this vast region passed under the dominion of 
Spain, is an important point in the history of the world, 
to the elucidation of which some of the most skilful pens 
and brightest intellects of the age have been employed ; 
but interesting as it is, scarcely comports with the plan 
marked out for this sketch — though from that conquest 
Resulted the fearful peculiarities of the ante-revolutionary 
rule, and indirectly the long series of atrocities which 
finally subsided into the present unsettled mi5-govern- 
ment, which so far has borne but the ashes and dust of 
turmoil and strife, instead of the wholesome fruit of 
order and free institutions. As it is, however, it seems 
indispensable to refer to the condition of Mexico under 
the Spanish rule, and to the events of its first revolution, 
before we touch upon the men who have influenced its 
subsequent destinies. 

It is the greatest curse of misgovernment that it 
destroys not only the present happiness of a people, but 
its future capacities ; and it is true that rarely has any 
people, which has been long oppressed, been able to 
establish a good government, until it had learned by a 
series of calamities, that freedom is not an absence of 
restraint, but a rule, the correct administration of which 
requires as many sacrifices, or as passive obedience, as the 
purest monarchy. This is obvious, when we remember 
that the difference between the freest and most absolute 
governments is but that in the first, the wishes of the in- 



MEXICO UNDER THE VICEROYS. 15 

dividual must be sacrificed to the interests of a com- 
munity, in the second, the interests of a community to 
the wishes of an individual. ' The one is not more ex- 
acting than the other, though few are able to think this 
is the case, and hence originates not a few of the errors 
so fatal to new governments, in the establishment of 
which it has been necessary to beware of the example of 
the past not to take advantage of accumulations of its ex- 
perience. The history of all the revolutions which have 
yet occurred also teach, that those nations which have 
been most oppressed have had most difficulty in per- 
ceiving what course true wisdom prescribed to them ; a 
more striking evidence of the truth of this can no where 
be found than in the annals of the Mexican Republic. 

Mexico, Peru, Buenos Ayres, Chih, Cuba, and the 
other Spanish possessions in America were never known 
as colonies, in the sense attached to that term by Eng- 
land and France. They were not subject to the law of 
Spain, but were governed by codes prepared to suit 
what were considered their respective exigencies, and 
reference was made to the Roman law only in cases 
for which no provision w^as made in the several systems 
ordained for them. Each and all were in fact separate 
kingdoms, and were called such, with the exception of 
Cuba, and united formed that empire which enabled the 
successors of Ferdinand and Isabella to call themselves 
Kings of Spain and the Indies. At the head of each of 
these realms, except Chili and Cuba, which were 
governed by Captains- General, and Quito, at the head 
of which was always a Presidente, was a Viceroy, rep- 
resentative of royal authority, and, as far as the people 
were concerned, entirely irresponsible. They were ap- 
pointed by the real audiencia de las Indias, representing 
the imperial power, residing in Spain, and in many 



16 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

respects the most peculiar body which ever existed. It 
was estabUshed in 151 Ij consequently very soon after 
the discovery of the American continent, and under the 
Rois Faineants of the house of Bourbon gradually 
usurped exclusive control of the Indies. As a legisla- 
ture, it issued all laws and regulations for the govern- 
ment of the Indies; in the exercise of its executive 
faculties, it made or confirmed all appointments, civil, 
military, and even ecclesiastical, and ordered or in- 
structed the higher officers, wdth regard to the perform- 
ance of their duties ; lastly, it was a supreme court of 
judicature, to which causes involving important ques- 
tions might be submitted for their final determination. 
It thus possessed all the powers of the government over 
these extensive realms. The assent of the monarch w^as, 
indeed, necessary to give authority to its proceedings, 
yet that assent w^as rarely, if ever, withheld ; and as va- 
cancies in its own body were always filled agreeably to 
its own recommendation, the whole period of its exist- 
ence might be viewed as the reign of one absolute sove- 
reign, ever sagacious, and ever adding to his stores of 
experience. The viceroy w^as but their creature, respon- 
sible only to them, and by a most tyrannical provision 
could only be proceeded against within a very short 
time after the expiration of the term for which he 
was appointed — five years. The viceroys were almost 
always nobles and courtiers, who came to Mexico to 
restore dilapidated fortunes, and generally returned 
effete with wealth wrung from the American subjects of 
their master. It sometimes happened they were willing 
to remain for longer terms. As these officers could 
scarcely be presumed familiar with the administration 
of justice, they were provided w^ith Fiscales or adminis- 
trators of various kinds, whom they were obliged to con- 



MEXICO UNDER THE VICEROYS. 17 

suit before taking any important step ; each might act 
contrary to the opinion of his Fiscal, but the latter had 
the right to enter his protest, which might afterwards be 
submitted to the Supreme Council. Such a system car- 
ried out correctly would be bad enough, but in its ap- 
pointments the real audiencia seems to have forgotten 
that they owed any obligation to the people of Mexico, 
thinking them only beasts of burden bound to eternal 
vassalage, not only to the Spanish monarch, but to every 
Spaniard. Long, long after the establishment of this 
system, scarcely more than thirty years ago, it was 
gravely asserted in a Spanish legislative assemblage, 
that " as long as one man lived in Spain, he had a right 
to the obedience of every American," a paradox more 
ridiculous than any of the grave sayings of Sir Robert 
Filmer. In the long list of viceroys appointed to all 
the Indies (one hundred and sixty in America), but four 
were born on this side the Atlantic, and the proportion 
of other officers was quite as small. In 1785 the minis- 
ter Galvez referred to the fact that a few Mexicans held 
office in their own country as an abuse. The conduct 
of the audiencia and the officers they sent to America 
fully authorized the maxim which seems to have actu- 
ated the one in their forgetfulness of all humanity, and 
the other in the hopeless submission to the rule, that God 
IS IN Heaven and the King in Spain : from one they in- 
ferred there was no limit to their power, from the other 
no remedy for their wrongs. When we look at this 
state of things, can we be astonished at the condition of 
Mexico at the present time? When oppression does 
not force from its victims the fierce spirit of resistance, 
it evidently degrades those on whom it weighs ; when 
violence does not struggle with injustice, man is driven 
to cunning and subterfuge, and habits of fraud take pos 
2 



18 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

session of the whole mind, and those who have suffered 
from the tyranny of others are ever most prone to ex- 
hibit their own haughtiness and arrogance. Thus it is, 
that after expelling the Spanish oppressors, so few Mexi- 
cans are found worthy of the power they have won. 

As a check on the power of the viceroy, to secure 
the royal privileges, another officer was appointed an 
Intendente, the duty of whom it was to take care of the 
collection and application of the taxes, of the revenue 
of the mines, and the imposts, which were many and 
vexatious. Subordinate to these in each province was 
an officer, usually a military commander, called Inten- 
dente de Provincia, the powers of whom were those of a 
governor, and who was responsible to the viceroy. 
The provinces were divided into districts, each of which 
was superintended by a board called El Cabildo or 
Jiyuntamiento , the power of appointing which, either 
rested with, or was controlled by the higher authorities. 

The most serious check upon the absoluteness or the 
ambition of all the executive officers, were the Audien- 
das or high courts of justice, of which one or two 
were established in every kingdom. They consisted 
each of a small number, generally between three and 
eight, of Oidores or judges, aided by Fiscales, chancel- 
lors, notaries, Alguaziles or sheriffs, and other officers 
or agents. On ordinary occasions they were presided 
over by one of their own number, styled a Regent ; the 
viceroy was, however, ex-officio^ the President of the 
Audiencia established in his capital. 

The taxes we have said were vexatious, and it is a 
matter of mystery and surprise, how any people sub- 
mitted so long to such extortion. The chief of these, 
independent of the odious capitation tax or tribute, 
levied on the Indians, whether rich or poor, were the 



MEXICO UNDER THE VICEROYS. 19 

almojarifazgo, or import duty ; the alcabala, on all sales 
of estates; the ??ii//io7ie, on the articles of daily use; and 
monopolies of all necessaries, whether of life or of 
industry, as salt, tobacco, quicksilver used in mines, 
&c. That under such a system, so crushing to energy 
and industry, the people became idle and nerveless, 
is not to be wondered at ; the wonder is, that they existed 
at all. The worst features of the two worst governments 
in the world, the Gothic rule, and that of the Spanish. 
Moors, had been combined to form the government of 
the mother- country, and its worst features had been care- 
fully preserved to oppress the native population of 
Mexico, in the code sent out to them by the supreme 
council of the Indies. Why they did not resist centuries 
before, we cannot imagine, since the military force con- 
sisting of regulars, w^ere nearly all Spaniards, and of 
native militia, neither class, however, at any time very 
numerous ; the government appearing to have but little 
dread of foreign attacks, and to place full confidence in 
the organization of its civil powers, for preventing 
internal disturbances. 

The ecclesiastical establishment was an important 
branch of the government of America, where it was 
maintained in great splendor and dignity. The clergy 
presented the same characteristics there, as in other 
countries w^here the Roman Catholic religion prevailed 
exclusively ; the inferior members being generally honest, 
kind, and simple-minded persons, loving and loved by 
their parishioners, while the high dignitaries were, for 
the most part, arrogant, intriguing, and tyrannical. The 
Inquisition exercised its detestable sway, unchecked, in 
every part of the dominions ; occasionally exhibiting to 
the people of the great cities, the edifying spectacle of 
an auto da fe, in which human victims were sacrificed, 



20 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

to confirm the faith of the beholders in the power of the 
archbishop and the viceroy. 

Before the revolution, the diffusion of knowledge was 
studiously prevented. The charge of keeping them in 
ignorance was committed to the priests, who, v;ith the 
exception of the Jesuits, executed it with fidelity ; the 
few schools and colleges were directed solely by eccle- 
siastics, who excluded from the course of instruction 
every branch of study, and from the public and private 
libraries every book calculated to strengthen the mental 
faculties, or to elevate the feelings. In the year 1806, 
there was but one printing-press at Mexico, from which 
a newspaper was published, under the immediate direction 
of the government ; and as the Spanish newspapers, the 
only ones allowed to be imported, were devoted almost 
wholly to the movements of the court or the church, the 
inhabitants remained in absolute ignorance of all that 
transpired elsewhere. A few poems and plays, none of 
any value, and some works on natural history, or specu- 
lations, generally wild and baseless, on the antiquities of 
those countries, form nearly the whole of their original 
literature. 

The incomplete outline here given of the system by 
which Mexico was governed, at the time when that 
system was the most liberal, and perhaps, in general, the 
most liberally administered, may serve to afford some 
idea of the evils to which it was subjected before its 
separation from Spain — evils by no means productive of 
proportional advantage to the oppressors. A more 
minute review of the history of Spanish supremacy 
in America, would serve to show that, throughout the 
whole period of its existence, the wishes and welfare 
of the inhabitants were sacrificed to the interests, real or 
supposed, of the monarch or of his European subjects. 



MEXICO UNDER THE VICEROYS. 21 

To secure these interests permanently was the great 
object of the government, and, unfortunately for Amer- 
ica, they were considered as being confined within very 
narrow hmits ; in fact, it had long been established as a 
principle, that to supply Spain with the greatest quantity 
of the precious metals, and to gratify her nobility and 
influential persons with lucrative situations fox themselves 
or their dependants, were the only purposes for which 
these countries could be rendered available without 
endangering the perpetuity of the dominion over them. 
The people were divided into seven great classes ; 1st, 
The old Spaniards, known as Guachupines in the history 
of the civil wars ; 2d, the Creoles, or whites of pure 
European race but born in America ; 3d, the Indigenes, 
or Indians ; 4th, the Mestizos, of mixed breeds of whites 
and Indians, gradually merging into Creoles as the 
Indian parentage became more and more remote ; 5th, 
the Mulattoes, or descendants of whites and negroes, 
and 7th, the African Negroes ; of these classes, the last 
named was very small, and the others were inter- 
mingled^ so as to produce crosses, to be defined by 
no possible degree of anthropological science. The 
white population was chiefly collected in the table land, 
near the centre of which the Indian race also concen- 
trated (near Puebla, Oaxaca, Mexico, Guanajuato, and 
Valladolid) ; while the northern frontier was inhabited 
almost entirely by whites, the Indian population having 
retired before them. In Durango, New Mexico, and the 
interior provinces, the true Indian breed was almost 
unknown. In Sonora it again appears. The coasts 
both of the Gulf and the Pacific, to the south, were inhab- 
ited by a race, in which there was a great mixture of Afri- 
can blood, from the fact, that to these unhealthy pro- 
vinces, the few slaves imported into Mexico were sent. 



22 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

There they have multipled with the fecundity peculiar 
to the descendants of African parentage, and now form 
a mixed breed, peculiar to the tierra caliente, and unlike 
any other in the world. The mestizos are found every 
where, from the fact that but few Spanish women emi- 
grated early to America, and the great mass of the popula- 
tion is of this class ; and now too that a connexion with 
the aboriginal race confers no disadvantage, few pretend 
to deny it. The pure Indians in 1803 exceeded two 
millions and and a half, and next to them are the mes- 
tizos. At the time of the revolution the pure whites 
were estimated at one million two hundred thousand, of 
whom eighty thousand only were Europeans. These 
distinctions were, however, soon annihilated, and at an 
early day in the revolution the only distinction known 
was of Americans and Europeans. 

The events of the present war have so universally 
directed attention to Mexico, that its geography and 
topography are well known, and will excuse any more 
minute allusion to it than the following. The Cordillera 
of the Andes, after passing along the whole western coast 
of South America and through the Isthmus of Panama, 
immediately on entering the northern continent is divi- 
ded into two branches, which leave between them an 
immense plateau, the central point of which is seven 
thousand feet above the level of the sea. This elevation 
towards the eastern coast gradually subsides to a level 
with the ocean, but on the west maintains itself in its 
stern rigidity till it becomes lost in the ices of the north. 
This table land presents some rare vegetable phenomena. 
On the coast its tropical latitude exhibits itself in its pro- 
ductions, but the rarefaction of the air attendant on ele- 
vation gradually neutralizes this, until at the central 
points we find growing the productions of colder climes. 



MEXICO UNDER THE VICEROYS. 23 

Thus Mexico, Guanajuato, and Zacatecas, enjoy a far 
different temperature from that of Vera Cruz, Tampico, 
and other cities on the coast. On the ascent from Vera 
Cruz to Mexico, Humboldt says that climates succeed 
each other by stories, and in the course of forty-eight 
hours we pass through every variety of vegetation. The 
tropical plants are succeeded by the oak, and the salu- 
brious air of Jalapa replaces the deadly atmosphere of 
Vera Cruz. The sky is generally cloudless and without 
rain, and a succession of hills, seemingly at some remote 
day the boundaries of lakes, are now the limits of exten- 
sive plains or llanos. The country is barren because it 
is dry, and every stream is accompanied with fertility. 
The first of these stories is called the tierra caliente, or 
hot, where the fruits and diseases of the tropics are pro- 
duced ; the tierra templada, or temperate, a term needing 
no explanation ; while far beyond the city is the tierra 
fria^ where the vegetation is alpine and the hills are 
covered with eternal snow. 

The present states of Mexico are nineteen in number : 
Yucatan, Tabasco, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, Vera Cruz, 
Tamaulipas, St. Luis de Potosi, New Leon, Coahuila, 
Puebla, Mexico, Valladolid, Guadalajara, Sonora, Sina- 
loa, Guanajuato, Queretaro, Zacatecas, Durango, Chi- 
huahua, New Mexico, and the Californias. In several 
instances two of these are united to form one state. 
Thus was the country divided previous to the revolu- 
tion, and so it has continued ; with the exception only, 
that the governments of the Intendentes de provincias 
have now become states, and that some of the southern 
provinces have (as now they may) occupied a position 
difficult to define, now claiming to belong to Central 
America, now to Mexico, and again to be independent. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE REVOLUTION. 

Abdication of the Bourbons in Spain — Effects in Spain — Effects 
in Mexico — Supreme central junta resigns — Change in the 
Spadish constitution — Insurrections in America — Vanegas 
appointed viceroy — Hidalgo. 

On the 5th of May, 1808, by means of a series of 
fraud, and treason, which recalls to us the annals of that 
prince whom Machiavelli immortalized, Charles IV. 
of Spain, his son and rival Ferdinand VII., and the 
male members of his family, were induced to place 
themselves in the power of Napoleon at Bayonne, and to 
surrender, for themselves and their heirs, all right to the 
crown of Spain. Joseph Bonaparte, the elder brother 
of the emperor of the French, was immediately placed 
in the vacant throne, and a constitution promulgated for 
the government of the Spanish empire, by which the 
subjects of the American colonies were to enjoy all the 
privileges of the mother country, and to be represented 
by deputies in the Cortes or General Congress at 
Madrid. The nobles of Spain, effete with luxury and 
forgetful of the chivalry which had made them the admi- 
ration of Europe, submitted to the new authorities im- 
posed by fraud and violence on the nation, while the 
great mass of the people rejected the rule with scorn. 
Insurrections broke out every where in the kingdom, and 
Juntas or boards of direction were formed in every 
place for the support of the national cause. 

Success attends all popular movements. When a 
people rises in its might it is sure of success. The 



THE REVOLUTION. 25 

attacks of the French were repelled with great valor ; at 
Baylen a whole army was forced to surrender, and those 
who kept the field began gradually to waste away, 
under the influence of what might be considered assas- 
sination, were not all things justifiable in a people 
fighting for its liberty and integrity. The country was 
at last partially freed from the pollution of the French, 
and a supreme junta established at Seville, to watch 
over the interests of Ferdinand VII., yet a prisoner, 
which claimed from every Spanish subject the same 
obedience due the monarch. 

The news of the captivity of the monarch and the 
abdication of the princes they had been so faithful to, 
produced in Mexico and in all the Spanish colonies a 
feeling of the greatest dismay. It shook loose the whole 
social system, it broke all the links of society, and revealed 
to all the necessity of some provision against the eflfects of 
convulsion not to be influenced or controlled by the 
action of persons on this side of the Atlantic. The feelings 
called forth were, however, various in character, and the 
only universal sentiment seemed that of opposition to 
the French. 

The dethronement of the Spanish Bourbons was first 
proclaimed to the people of Mexico on the 20th of July, 
1808, by the viceroy, who declared himself deter- 
mined to sustain their interest in his government. This 
seemed a general determination throughout all Spanish 
America. In Havana the captain-general Somruelos 
decided on this course, in which he was sustained by 
the people, the ecclesiastical authority, and the army. 
In Buenos Ayres, Liniers, an officer of French extrac- 
tion, who had been made viceroy in consequence of 
the valor displayed in resisting the English invasion 
under Sir Home Popham, having exhibited some dispo- 



26 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

sition to favor King Joseph, or at least to remain neu- 
tral until the difficulties of the peninsula should be set- 
tled, insisting that Buenos Ayres should be a dependency 
of the Spanish crown, was at once displaced, and Don 
Baltasar de Cisneros was sent to replace him by the 
junta. So it was in Grenada, where war was declared 
by the audiencia against all the partisans of Bonaparte, 
and at Popayan and Quito. Iturrigaray, the viceroy, 
soon after made known the establishment of the junta, 
and required the ayuntamiento to submit to its orders. 
The seed had now begun to ripen : they were yet faithful 
to Ferdinand ; he was still their monarch ; but they re- 
collected that Mexico and Spain were two kingdoms, 
that the Junta had no authority, either direct or by im- 
plication, in Mexico, and refused it obedience, at the 
same time recommending the establishment of a similar 
body, to be composed of deputies from all the local ca- 
UldoSj in Mexico, to take care of the interests of Ferdi- 
nand VII. in his Mexican possessions. Iturrigaray was 
inclined to give his assent to this scheme ; and judging 
from this fact and his great popularity, it is probable he 
was a kind, sensible man, too good for those with whom 
he had to deal. We may here state that in the ayunta- 
miento of Mexico there chanced to be a majority of 
natives of the soil. This action of Iturrigaray was of 
course opposed by the audiencia, composed as it will 
be remembered oioidores, Jiscales and the military and 
civil officers sent out from Spain, erected into a species of 
oligarchy and forbidden by law to marry with the 
children of the soil. Finding their remonstrances vain, 
the audiencia arrested the viceroy in his palace, and 
confided his functions temporarily to the archbishop of 
Lizana. The audiencia, by a system of bold and op- 
pressive action, drowned all opposition to the authority 



THE REVOLUTION. 27 

of the central junta, which, on its becoming evident that 
the archbishop was incompetent, endowed it with all 
the viceroy's authority, until some noble could be 
found in Spain on whom it might confer the vacant ap- 
pointment. Thus things continued during 1809, a year 
of great distress in Spain, the French having overrun 
the whole country and the junta being driven to Cadiz, 
its last foothold, from Seville. The junta was now evi- 
dently incompetent, and it laid down its power. It how- 
ever previously summoned a Cortes, or council of the 
whole nation, which was to convene at Cadiz on the 1st 
of March, 1810, and in which the American kingdoms 
were to be represented as integral portions of the em- 
pire. As they could not be notified in time, the places of 
American deputies were to be filled temporarily by per- 
sons chosen in Spain. The supreme central junta 
having appointed a regency of five to administer the 
government until the meeting of the cortes in February, 
1810, disappeared from history. The regency imme- 
diately addressed a circular decree to the different pro- 
vinces of the Indies, calling upon them w^ithout delay to 
elect their deputies, who were to be in number twenty- 
six ; this decree was accompanied by an appeal to the 
people, reminding them that " they were now raised to 
the dignity of freemen,'^^ and imploring those who would 
be called on to vote for the deputies, to remember that 
" their lot no longer depended upon the will of Icings , 
viceroys, or governors, but would be determined by 
themselves.''^ There was now no withdrawal ; the die 
was cast, the collars were cast from the necks of the 
slaves, and no event which could occur would rivet 
them again. Thus it seemed to the governing class in 
America, and to those who had so long submitted. The 
feeling of the former was that the existing government 



28 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

was subverted; of the latter, that joy those only 
could know who had been taught that ^^ while one 
Spaniard remained, he had a right to govern the Ameri- 
cans.''^ 

The reverses sustained by the Spanish arms had 
taught the Mexicans to hope they would be able to 
free themselves from the control of the audiencia, the 
idea of popular rights not seeming to have entered their 
minds, while even the Spanish office-holders seemed to 
be divided, a large party wishing to remain neutrals, as 
had been done in the dispute between the first Bourbon 
king and the house of Austria. The people took ad- 
vantage of this ; parties were formed, and it become evi- 
dent that a slight spark would produce a general confla- 
gration. Rebellion had taken place in La Plata, which 
was suppressed, and in Quito, where the people over- 
awed the presidente, and a confederation of the pro- 
vinces of Guayaquil, Popayan, Panama and Quito arose, 
which professed obedience to Ferdinand VII. at the 
same time that it denounced the authority of the cen- 
tral junta. In all the American dominions, except 
Mexico, there had been difficulties ; and there, too, the 
match was burning slowly but surely. As the news of 
the Spanish disasters became known through Mexico, 
associations were formed far and wide to further the 
general scheme of independence of the Spanish junta 
or audiencia. The exertions of these, however, a 
watchful government contrived to foil, and by prompt 
action prevented more than one attempt at revolution ; 
as at Vallodolid, in May, 1810, where the conspirators 
were arrested, and we need not say, executed just as all 
had been prepared for action. 

At this crisis came Don Francisco Xavier Vanegas to 
assume the viceroyalty. He was the last man to whom, 



THE REVOLUTION. * 29 

at this crisis, authority should have been confided ; he 
was brave, and valor was needed to enable him to fulfil 
the duties of ruler of a realm on the eve of convulsion, 
but he was passionate when he should have been careful, 
and hasty when every word should have been uttered 
with consideration and reflection. The mild Iturriga- 
ray might have restored quiet. Vanegas but hurried on 
the outbreak. He most imprudently continued, with 
greater vigor, the course marked out by the audiencia, 
and left to the people no hopes, but of resistance, or 
doing what never yet people did, resuming duties from 
which they had been released. The insurrection had 
been suppressed at Valladolid, the capital of Michoa- 
can, but oroke out in Guanajuato, where a remarkable 
man appeared on the stage. 



HIDALGO. 

Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was the Cura^ or 
parish priest of Dolores, a quiet and secluded town in 
the state, or as it was then called, intendencia of Guana- 
juato, midway between San Luis de Potosi and Guana- 
juato. He was a man of undeniable acquirements, who 
had read much and thought more, who was devoted to 
his duties and evidently anxious to promote a knowledge 
of the branches of industry then almost unknown in 
Mexico. He had introduced the silk-worm, in the rear- 
ing of which in 1810 his people had made much pro- 
gress, and had turned his attention to the cultivation of 
the vine, seeing, as all must who look at the peculiarities 
of the soil and climate of Mexico, that it was calculated 
to become a great source of wealth. Hidalgo was 
a man of books ; a mighty revolution had taken place 



30 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

on the American continent, of which he could not he. 
ignorant, and the events of later date in Europe officially 
promulgated had awakened a deep feeling in the whole 
people, to which he was no stranger. A quiet, unam- 
bitious, meditative man, he was far in advance of the 
most of his countrymen, but might have continued to 
dream of freedom, yet restricted his sphere of action to 
his own cure, had he not been called forth by one of 
those personal wTongs, in all cases found to be the most 
powerful means of awakening man to a perception of the 
sufferings of his neighbour. 

It had ever been the policy of Spain not only to 
wring from Mexico and the other Indies the produce of 
their mines and peculiar wealth, but to prohibit them 
from the pursuit of all industry w^hich would conflict with 
the interests of the mother country. Therefore, except 
in one remote part of the country whence it could never 
be brought to a market, the production of wine and the 
cultivation of vineyards had always been prohibited in 
New Spain or Mexico. Hidalgo had planted around 
his modest curacy a vineyard, which he was, by a posi- 
tive order from the audiencia at Mexico, ordered lo 
destroy. The quiet student had planted his vines in his 
leisure hours. In his lonely life they had been to him 
as children. He would not obey, and soldiers were 
sent to enforce the order. The fruits of his labor were 
destroyed ; the vines were cut down and burned ; but 
from their ashes arose a more maddening spirit than pos- 
sibly even the vine had previously given birth to. 

This private wrong, added to the many oppressions 
to which he was subjected together with the mass of his 
countrymen, animated him, and may account for the 
stern, dogged, almost Saxon perseverance with which 
he began this contest, in which every chance was against 



THE REVOLUTION. 31 

him personally, and in favor of his country, in the 
result. The dark spirit of the Spanish rule had met the 
only feeling which could contend with it, the resolution 
of a man who knew his country's rights and was deter- 
mined to maintain them. The whole people thought as 
he did, and it was not difficult to form a party to sustain 
him. It has been said that the pulpit and confessional 
were used by him to promote his view^s ; and if so, never 
were the powers which are sheltered by it, applied to ^^ 
purpose against which so little can be said with justice. 
Certain it is, that he used so little concealment that 
AUende, Aldama, and Abasolo, three Mexican officers 
in garrison at Guanajuato, and the first to whom he im- 
parted his plans, w^ere ordered by the superior powers 
of Intcndencia to be arrested. This mischance did not 
destroy the confidence of Hidalgo, who, having been 
joined by AUende on the 13th of September, 1810, 
three days after, on the anniversary almost of the arrest 
of Iturrigaray two years before, commenced the revolt 
by seizing on seven Europeans living in Dolores, and 
the confiscation of their property, which he immediately 
distributed among his parishoners. 

There is a hackneyed proverb, that no man is a hero 
to his valet- de-chambre, and that a prophet is without 
honor in his ow^n country. This may be so generally ; 
but if so, it enhances the merit of Hidalgo, who was 
followed by all his parishioners. The news of his enter- 
prise spread wide among the people, who had evidently 
been waiting long for the signal to act ; so that within 
twenty- four hours, the patriot-priest was at the head of 
a force powerful enough to enable him, on the 17th of 
September, to occupy San Felipe, and on the next day 
San Miguel el Grande ; of which places the united 
population was more than thirty thousand. The property 



32 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

of the Spaniards was confiscated, and enabled him to 
add yet more to his numbers. In this enterprise 
Hidalgo had unfurled a rude copy of the picture of our 
Lady of Guadelupe, whose shrine has ever been looked 
on with peculiar reverence in Mexico, and gave to his 
undertaking the air more of crusade than a civil war. 
Unfortunately, the worst features of crusades and pil- 
grimages were imitated by his followers. 

He wished to attack Guanajuato, the capital of the 
province, and the depot of the wealth of the Spaniards 
in that country. The chief of the province, Riailon, a 
great favorite in Mexico, and a man universally 
respected for his courage and humanity, w^as in com- 
mand of a large body of troops ; and as the population, 
seventy-five thousand men, had not as yet pronounced ; 
Hidalgo was afraid to risk the attempt. The people, 
however, began at last to give evidence of a disposition 
to take sides with Hidalgo. Rianon determined not to 
defend the city, but shut himself up with all the Euro- 
peans, and the gold, silver, and quicksilver in the 
Alhondega or granary, a strong building and amply 
provisioned, in which he evidently intended to defend 
himself. On the morning of September 28lh, Don Ma- 
riano Abasolo, one of the Mexican officers before 
referred to as partisans of Hidalgo, appeared before the 
town in the uniform of the insurgents, and presented a 
letter from the cura Hidalgo, ^<- announcing that he had 
been elected captain-general of America," by the unan- 
imous choice of his followers, and been recognised by 
the ayuntamientos of the towns of Celaya, San Muguel, 
San Felipe, &c. That he had proclaimed the indepen- 
dence of the country, the only difficulty in the way of 
which was the presence of the Europeans, whom it was 
necessary to banish, and whose property, obtained by 



THE REVOLUTION. 33 

the authority of oppressive laws, injurious to the people, 
should be confiscated. He promised, however, protec- 
tion to the Spainards if they would submit, and that 
their persons should be conveyed to a place of safety. 
Rianon replied modestly, but decidedly ; and as he de- 
clined to capitulate, Hidalgo at once marched to the 
attack. His army consisted of twenty thousand men, 
but the mass of them were Indians, armed with bows, 
arrows, slings, machetes^ and lances. Arms of obsidian^ 
the volcanic glass so constantly referred to by the early 
historians of Mexico, which lay neglected since the 
days of Cortez, were now brought out ; and a stranger 
«!ontrast can scarcely be imagined than that presented 
Oy the Aztec levies, and the beautiful regiment of La 
Reina and a portion of the troops of Celaya, which had 
joined Hidalgo on his march to Guanajuato. The 
itrmy of Hidalgo immediately occupied numerous emi- 
nences, which commanded the Alhondega, and with 
their slings kept up such a rain of stones that scarcely a 
person could appear on the fortifications. The mus- 
ketry, however, did great execution, scarcely a single 
ball being lost, so dense was the crowd around the 
building. The whole population of the town declared 
in favor of Hidalgo, and the fate of the garrison was 
sealed ; though Rianon still persisted in his defence, 
which he prolonged by means of shells formed by 
filling with powder the iron flasks in which the quick- 
silver was contained, which were thrown by hand among 
the besiegers. The Spaniards at last, however, became 
confused, and resistance was given up. The great gate 
was forced open, and Rianon fell dead as all was lost. 

The number of persons w^ho fell in the defence and 
after it, is not known, and among them were many 
Mexican families connected by marriage with the ob- 



34 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

noxious Spaniards. One family alone is said to have 
lost seventeen members; and the obstinate and pro- 
longed defence could only have been made by a con- 
siderable number. We wish we could close our eyes to 
what followed ; but justice requires us to mention that 
all in the Alhondega were slain. The Indians seemed 
to delight in repaying on their victims the grudges ot 
three centuries ; a matter of surprise to all, for they had 
lain so long dormant and submissive that it was sup- 
posed they had forgotten or become regardless of their 
former distinct nationality. This is not, however, aston- 
ishing, for the history of that people which has been 
enslaved and forgotten its lost freedom is yet to be wTit- 
ten. In the Alhondega was found a vast sum, estimated at 
five millions of dollars, the possession of which materially 
altered Hidalgo's views, and promised success to what 
had seemed at first to all but a premature attempt. 
The property of the Spaniards or Guachupines was sur- 
rendered to Hidalgo's troops ; and so diligent w^ere they 
in the lesson of rapine, that the Mexican troops of to- 
day, after thirty-six years of civil war, have scarcely 
improved on them. The action terminated on Friday 
night only, and on the next morning not one building 
belonging to a European was left standing. The greatest 
scenes of outrage were committed, which Hidalgo cer- 
tainly could not prevent. He, too, was a Mexican, wdth 
the blood of the aborigines in his veins ; though a priest, 
human, and smarting under recent wrongs, and it is 
doubtful if he wished to. Policy, too, may have 
influenced him. He himself, if unsuccessful, was 
doomed, and he may have wished all around him should 
so deeply dye their hands in blood, they would be com- 
pelled to abide by him in the contest which had begun. 
The siege of the Alhondega of Guanajuato was the Bun- 



THE REVOLUTION. 35 

ker-hill of Mexico, and deserves the attention bestowed 
on it. 

Hidalgo did not remain long at Guanajuato, but 
while there established a mint and a foundry of cannon, 
for which he made use of all the bells found in the 
houses of the Spaniards. On the 10th of October he 
left Guanajuato for Valladolid, which he entered on the 
17th without resistance, the bishop and the old Span- 
iards flying before him. The news of his successes had 
spread far and wide, and recruits joined him from all 
parts of the country. By universal consent he was 
looked on as the head of the revolution, and distributed 
commissions and organized boards, which yet more ex- 
tensively diffused his schemes and augmented the num- 
ber of his partisans. 

The city of Mexico was taken aghast at the capture 
of Guanajuato, in which, besides the mere town, much 
more had been lost. The prestige of tacit obedience had 
been broken, the whole country was in arms, and the 
depot of one of the mining districts had been sacked, 
yanegas, the new viceroy, who had been installed but 
two days previous to the outbreak, displayed great firm- 
ness and prudence, in spite of the persuasions of his 
counsellors, who utterly contemned the Mexican people, 
and maintained that the first tuck of the drum would put 
them to flight. This was but natural ; they had been 
long obedient, and persons who submit are always 
despised. It will be remembered that during the 
American Revolution, after more than one collision had 
taken place, persons quite as wise maintained that two 
regiments would suffice to march through the colonies. 

The viceroy ordered troops from Puebla, Orizaba, 
and Toluca, to the capital ; and at the same time, to con- 
ciliate the Mexicans, conferred important military com- 



36 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

mands on many Creoles. In this way he corrupted one 
from whom much was expected, the Conde de Cadena, 
who forgot his country and died afterwards in defence 
of the Spanish authority. Calleja was ordered to march 
with his troops, a brigade, from San Luis de Potosi, 
against Hidalgo, who was excommunicated by his supe- 
perior, the bishop of Valladolid. As people naturally 
asked what offence he had committed to bring on him 
the ecclesiastical censure, the archbishop Lizana and 
the inquisition, against the authority of whom he was a 
bold man who would appeal, were induced to ratify this 
sentence, and pronounce an excommunication against 
any who should doubt its validity. The assistance de- 
rived from this spiritual power was more than neutral- 
ized by the conferring of offices on all the Spaniards who 
participated in the deposition of the viceroy Iturrigaray, 
whom the Mexicans considered to be a sufferer in their 
cause. This most injudicious course renewed all the 
feelings of disaffection which had been excited by the 
deposition of the viceroy, and was turned to the best 
advantage by the friends of liberty. 

When Hidalgo reached Valladolid he was at the head 
of fifty thousand men, and in addition to the numbers who 
joined him there, he was reinforced by the militia of the 
province and the dragoons of Michoacan, both of which 
were well equipped and in good discipline. The most 
valuable addition he received, however, was in the per- 
son of Don Jose Maria Morelos, also a priest, cura of 
the town of Nucapetaro, an old friend whom he knew 
well, and on whom he conferred the command of the 
whole south-western coast. On Morelos, after the death 
of Hidalgo, rested the mantle of command : and some 
idea of his enthusiasm may be formed from the fact that 
he set out, on the receipt of his commission, accom- 



THE REVOLUTION. 37 

panied with but five badly armed servants, with the pro- 
mise that within a year he would take Acapulco, a feat 
which he absolutely achieved. On the 19th Hidalgo 
left Valladolid, and on the 28th reached Toluca, which is 
but twelve leagues from the city of Mexico. 

Vanegas had found means to collect about seven thou- 
sand men in and near the city of Mexico, under the com- 
mand of Colonel Truxillo, and the afterwards celebrated 
Don Augustino Iturbide, then a subordinate officer in the 
royal artillery. This force was defeated by the insurgents 
commanded by AUende and Hidalgo in person, on the 
30th of October, at Las Cruces^ a mountain pass between 
Mexico and Toluca. Hidalgo's forces were supposed to 
have been in number not less than sixty thousand ; those 
commanded by Truxillo did not exceed seven thousand. 
In the first action, as might have been reasonably antici- 
pated, the royal troops were worsted ; the native regu- 
lars, however, behaved with gallantry and determination, 
and it was easy to see that the undisciplined and badly 
armed mob of Indians, of which the curate's army con- 
sisted almost entirely, would be unable to resist the 
attack of a force much larger than that which had been 
repulsed. 

In this action, it may be remarked, Truxillo com- 
mitted an act which was ever considered by the patriots 
to justify all their subsequent outrages. An insurgent 
officer with a flag was decoyed within gunshot of the 
royal lines and basely assassinated. This Truxillo 
boasted of in his despatch, and was justified and ap- 
plauded subsequently by the viceroy Vanegas, who main- 
tained that the ordinary rules of war were not to be 
observed towards Hidalgo's forces. Vanegas was, 
however, so much terrified at the near approach of the 
native army, that he, too, found it necessary to appeal to 
2* 



S8 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

superstition; and having ordered the image of the 
Virgin of Los Remedios to be brought in great state 
from its famous chapel, besought her aid, and laid at its 
feet his baton of command. This may account for the 
often repeated story, that in a proclamation the Blessed 
Virgin had been appointed captain-general of the forces of 
the viceroy. The public accounts circulated in Mexico 
represented Truxillo as having gained a great victory, 
though circumstances compelled him to retreat, and recall 
to our minds some of the events of our own day. It is a 
matter of curiosity, that no Mexican general before or 
since the revolution ever could be induced to confess 
that he was defeated. Every preparation was made to 
defend the capital, against which Hidalgo advanced till 
he was in sight of the towers and domes, when he first 
halted and then began to recede. On this occasion his 
conduct has been gravely censured, and Allende, a true 
soldier, was, it is said, most indignant. His courage 
cannot be suspected ; he had witnessed, without attempt- 
ing to check them, too many excesses, for his conduct 
to be attributed to humanity and a desire to save 
Mexico from the horrors of a siege or an assault, neces- 
sary evils, which all who appeal to arms are aware can 
neither be vindicated or prevented. The true reason was, 
probably, that he could not conceive that the viceroy 
could collect such a force, and was aware that another 
victory like that of Las Cruces would be his ruin. His 
forces had committed all possible excesses, and had 
suffered from the batteries of Truxillo so fearfully, that 
he knew they could not again be brought to the charge. 
So ignorant were they of artillery, that they had attempted 
to muzzle the guns by cramming them with their straw 
hats, until hundreds had been thus slain. He was also 



THE REVOLUTION, 39 

pearly without ammunition ; and we need not ask for 
more reasons. 

He therefore commenced a retreat, but on the 7th of 
November fell in with the advance of the viceroy's 
army, commanded by Calleja. The viceroy's troops 
were chiefly Creoles, who w^ere wavering in their 
duty; and it is stated on the authority of officers 
who served there, that had Hidalgo delayed his attack, 
there is no doubt they would have sided with their 
countrymen. This was not done; the battle com- 
menced, Calleja advancing in five separate columns, 
which broke the insurgent line and made all that followed 
a pursuit and a slaughter. The Creole troops now had 
chosen their course, and for many years continued the 
chief support of Spain and the terror of the insurgents. 
They seem to have been ever led by their officers, Cadena, 
Iturbide, &c., and it was not until the dethronement of 
the latter, when the Spanish flag v/as furled for ever in 
Mexico, that they seem to have remembered they had a 
country. We cannot but admire the consummate skill 
which enabled the viceroy to make men fight against 
their own interests ; and the history of this part of the 
Mexican revolution w^ll more than once recall to us that 
part of the history of Italy made famous by the crimes 
and the talent of the Borgia and Sforza. 

The number of Indians killed at Aculco is said to 
have exceeded ten thousand, but Hidalgo managed to 
collect a large army from the fugitives, and with most of 
the officers effected an escape to Valladolid. AUende 
retreated to Guanajuato, w^here he murdered in cold 
blood two hundred and forty-nine Europeans. Too 
much censure cannot be bestowed on this atrocity, 
which, however, will find a precedent in the history of 
most revolutions. At all events, it should not be ccm- 



40 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

plained of by the partisans of the viceroy, Avho had officially 
announced, that the customs of civilized war did not 
apply to the followers of the heretic and rebel, Hidalgo. 
There is much excuse to be made for all insurgents, who 
are ever" treated as traitors until their success covers 
them with the glare of fame, if not the true gold of 
patriotism. 

Hidalgo arrived at Valladolid on the 14th of Novem- 
ber, whence he proceeded to Guadalajara, which his 
subordinates had occupied on the day of his defeat at 
Aculco. Here he w^as joined by the licenciate Ignacio 
Lopez Rayon, who afterwards became his recretary, and 
was to the establishment of a civil government in the 
provinces successively conquered by the insurgents, 
what Hidalgo and Morelos were in the military conduct 
of the revolution. Previous to the establishment of the 
junta of Zitacuaro, Rayon's first service, the insurgent 
was a man recognising no authority but arms, and 
their army but a band of men without any colorable 
authority. 

On the 24th of November Hidalgo made a triumphal 
entry into Guadalajara, where, though still under ex- 
communication, he participated in the Te Deam, in 
honor of his successes. It is here worthy of remark, 
that the native clergy generally sustained him in his 
course, and paid no attention to the ecclesiastical decree 
against him. 

Allende here joined him, and the two proceeded to 
provide artillery to replace the guns they had lost at 
Aculco. This was effected by bringing from San Bias, 
the great dock-yard on the Pacific, of the Spanish 
government, of which Morelos had possessed himself, a 
great number of guns, some of which were of heavy 
calibre, transported by Indians over the western Cordil- 



THE REVOLUTION. 41 

lera, thought then impassable, and over which no road 
has as yet been constructed, except at a few widely dis- 
tant spots. Here he committed one of those actions 
which must forever stain his character. Upwards of 
seven" hundred Europeans who had remained quiet at 
home, were imprisoned and brought out by twenties and 
thirties at night, taken to quiet places, and murdered. 
This system he had commenced at Valladolid, where 
during three days seventy persons were beheaded in the 
public square, because tliey were Spaniards. 

There is reason to believe he intended to act on this 
principle throughout the war ; for, on his trial, an authen- 
tic letter w^as produced, written by him to one of his 
subordinates, in which he orders him to continue to 
arrest as many Spaniards as possible, and '^ if you find 
any among them entertaining dangerous opinions, bury 
tliem in oblivion by putting them to death in some 
secret place, where their fate may be for ever unknown." 
If this be from an authentic letter, we can but be thank- 
ful that Hidalgo's career was soon terminated. He 
had, however, lived long enough to accomplish his 
mission, to arouse his people, and to take the steps 
which cast his country in that sea of strife from which it 
could only emerge with the boon of independence. 

This atrocity so disgusted AUende, who was by no 
means mawkishly sentimental, that he was only pre- 
vented from leaving him by the approach of Calleja. 

The cannon obtained from San Bias were so nu- 
merous that Hidalgo determined, though he had but 
twelve hundred muskets, to risk a battle. Allende fore- 
saw the consequences of the total want of discipline, and 
sought to dissuade him. A council of war was called, 
and as these bodies generally decide incorrectly, he was 
-outvoted ; and the bridge of Calderon, sixteen leagues 



42 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

from Guadalajara, was selected as the place of resist- 
ance and fortified. Calleja, after a delay of six weeks 
in Guanjauato, came in sight on the 16th of January, 
1811, wheu a general battle took place, which realized 
all of Allende's predictions. The Mexicans were par- 
tially successful in the beginning, repulsing two or three 
attacks, in one of which the Conde de Cadena was killed. 
They were finally thrown into confusion by the explo- 
sion of an ammunition wagon, and compelled to retreat, 
w^hich they did in an orderly manner, commanded by 
Allende and Hidalgo, towards the provincias internas. 
Rayon returned to Guadalajara to secure the military 
chest, which contained three hundred thousand dollars. 
So delighted was Calleja at his success, that he did not 
attempt to pursue the insurgents, or to enter Guadala- 
jora until four days after the battle. For this he was 
made Conde de Calderon, a title under which he reap- 
pears in the history of Mexico after the lapse of ten 
years. The insurgent generals retreated to Saltillo, at 
the head of four thousand troops, and there it was deter- 
mined to leave them under the command of Rayon, 
while Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama, and Abasolo, who 
had ever been the souls of the revolution, were to set 
out for the United States to purchase arms and procure 
the assistance of experienced officers. 

On the road, however, they were surprised by a for- 
mer partisan, Don Ignacio Elizondo, who could not 
resist the temptation of so valuable a capture. They 
were taken to Chihuahua on the 21st of March, 1811 ; 
where, from anxiety to extort a knowledge of their 
schemes, the trial was prolonged till July, when Hidalgo, 
who had previously been degraded from the priesthood, 
was shot, his comrades sharing his fate. With the cow- 
ardice and pusillanimity peculiar to weak governments, 



THE REVOLUTION. 43 

an attempt was made to produce an impression that they 
repented ; but persons are now living in Chihuahua who 
testify that they died bravely and boldly as they had 
fought, and Hidalgo persisted in his conviction that the 
knell of the Spanish rule had been sounded ; that though 
the viceroy might resist, the end would come. He was 
buried in Chihuahua; and a few years since, before the 
breaking out of the present war, the place of his execu- 
tion was pointed out to a party of American travellers 
almost as a holy spot, sanctified by the blood of the 
fighting Cura of Dolores. None can deny his valor 
and patriotism, and his excesses were perhaps to be 
attributed as much to the character of the enemies against 
whom he contended as to himself. Had it been his lot 
to contend against a humaner foe, it is not improbable 
that he would have been merciful. The cause he fought 
in was holy, and it is therefore the more to be regretted 
that he suffered it to be suUied with unnecessary blood- 
shed. In the long roll of Mexican leaders we shall have 
occasion to refer to, one thing is sure : few, indeed, are 
less bloodstained than Don Miguel Hidalgo y Cos- 
tilla. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE REVOLUTION SUBSEQUENT TO THE DEATH OF 
HIDALGO. 

Guerilla warfare — National junta — Manifesto of the revo- 
lutionists — Morelos — Evacuation of Cuautla — Expedition 
against Oaxaca — ^Valladolid — Morelos defeated — Expedition 
to Tehuacan — Morelos taken prisoner — Executed. 

After the death of Hidalgo, the character of the 
contest changed its phase materially. Rayon maintained 
the command of the remnant of the army which escaped 
from the bridge of Calderon ; the Baxio was laid under 
contribution by Muniz and Naverrete, another priest of 
the country ; Puebla was taken possession of by Ser- 
rano and Osorno, and far in the valley of Mexico parti- 
sans were so numerous that there was no communication 
between the capital and the provinces above it ; even 
the sentinels at the gates of the city were not unfrequently 
lassoed. Notwithstanding this, the Creoles were unable 
to keep the field in any body, and the royalists con- 
trolled most of the cities. It is impossible to follow 
the separate chiefs through all the mazes of a guerilla war, 
when every day some partial action occurred, without 
any other result than a slaughter of prisoners, quarter 
being never claimed or given. Rayon, we have already 
said, appears to have been the first who saw the neces- 
sity of union, the only thing which could enable the 
partisans to oppose an enemy then conquering them in 
-detail. He conceived the iaea of a national junta^ to 
be created by some popular election, and to Ix 



THE REVOLUTION CONTINUED. 45 

acknowledged by all the insurgent chiefs. As the seat 
of this body, he selected the town of Ziticuaro, in 
Valladolid, public opinion decidedly sustaining the 
insurgents in that province. With this view he occu- 
pied that town towards the end of May, 1811, and was 
lucky enough to repulse an attack made on it by Gene- 
ral Emperan, with two thousand men. He was enabled 
on the 10th of September, following, -to instal a junta 
or provisional government of five persons, elected by 
as many landholders as could be collected for the 
occasion, in conjunction with the authorities and people 
of the town. 

The principles propounded by- the junta were 
nearly those afterwards made famous as the plan of 
Iguala, acknowledging Ferdinand VIL, on condition 
that he would reside in Mexico, and professing a wish 
for an intimate union with Spain. This, however, was 
probably mere profession, as Morelos, who had pro- 
nounced in favor of the junta, had refused to ac- 
knowledge a king on any terms ; and Rayon defended 
the proposition, only on the terms of expediency, the 
lower orders not having as yet shaken off all respect 
for the royal name, though they were in flagrant rebel- 
lion against his authority. The establishment of this 
government was hailed with great enthusiasm by the 
Creoles throughout New Spain, which was never fully 
realized. The junta was no doubt honest, but its 
authority at first was not generally recognised; and 
when Morelos acceded to it, Calleja contrived to 
disperse its members. It was, however, the nucleus 
around which was formed the congress of Chilpanzingo, 
which gave consistency to the action of the insurgent 
chiefs. The manifesto it published is characterized 
with great moderation, and contained one proposition 



46 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

which placed the insurgents in the best position before 
the tribunal of the world. It offered to conduct the 
war on the principles of civilized nations, and to 
prevent, the wanton sacrifice of prisoners. This docu- 
ment, which has been attributed to Doctor Cos, father 
of the present general, pointed out to Vanegas the cer- 
tainty of the final triumph of the patriot cause, boldly 
challenging the right of any junta in Spain to control 
Mexico during the imprisonment of the king; and 
finally proposed, if the Spaniards would lay down their 
offices, and permit a general congress to be called, not 
only their property should be respected, but their salaries 
paid. If they did this, the Mexicans would admit them 
to all privileges, recognise the king, and assist Spain in 
her struggle with their men and treasure. Had this offer 
been accepted, how vastly differently situated would 
Spain now have been ? She need never have placed 
herself at the beck of England to shake off the weight 
of France, or perhaps now have been forced to cast 
her queen at the feet of Louis Philippe, to disenthral 
herself from the influence of England. Mexico might 
now have been a crown-property of Spain, as devotedly 
attached to her as Cuba and Porto Rico — the only 
colonies she retains in America, because they were the 
only ones the central junta did not interfere with. 
Vanegas had the proposals burned by the executioner of 
Mexico, and thereby the destiny of two nations was 
decided. It now becomes necessary to refer to one 
repeatedly mentioned already, the history of whose life 
is that of the Mexican revolution from the death of 
Hidalgo to his own. 




Don Jo^e M.'iiia Moiek 



THE REVOLUTION CONTINUED. 47 



MORELOS. 

When Hidalgo was in Valladolid in October, 1810, 
previous to the battle of Las Cruces, he was joined by 
Don Jose Maria Morelos, cura of Nucupetaro, a tov/n 
of that province, on whom he conferred a commission 
to act as captain-general of the provinces on the south- 
western coast, for which he set out with no other escort 
than a few servants armed with old muskets and lances. 
The first reinforcement he received was by a numerous 
party of slaves, who were eager to win their freedom ; 
and his exigencies were so great that the discovery of 
twenty muskets at Petatan was thought an especial mat- 
ter of congratulation. He was afterwards joined by Don 
Jose and Don Antonio Galeano ; and in November, 1810, 
was at the head of one thousand men, and marched 
against Acapulco. This, as is well known, was the 
great depot of the Manilla trade, probably the busiest 
town in Mexico, with a population as industrious as any 
people with Spanish blood and education can reasonably 
be expected to be. The possession of this city might 
in that quarter be expected to put an end to the strife. 
The commandant of the district, Don Francisco Paris, 
marched against him at the head of a numerous body 
of troops, and Acapulco was evidently to be no blood- 
less conquest. 

Though commanding an inferior force, Morelos did 
not hesitate to attack him, and under the cover of night, 
surprised and signally defeated the royalist force, Janu- 
ary 25th, 1811. The result of this battle was the posses- 
sion of eight hundred muskets, five pieces of artillery, a 
large quantity of ammunition, and Paris's chest, in which 



48 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

was a large sum of money. At the same time seven 
hundred prisoners were taken, and, it is pleasant to 
sa}', treated with humanity. This was the first of Mo- 
relos's triumphs, and the base of the superstructure of 
fame he raised for himself. His success was not unno- 
ticed ; and having baffled the parties commanded by 
Llano and Fuentes subsequently, he became at once the 
idol of his countrymen and the terror of the Spaniards. 
Men of talent flocked to his army, among whom were 
Ermengildo Galeano, the three Bravos, two of whom 
were executed by Calleja afterwards, and the other sub- 
sequently was placed w^ith Victoria at the head of 
government in 1828. The whole of 1811 was, as we 
have said, consumed in a series of petty engagements, 
and by the great and successful efforts of Morelos to 
discipline his army, the mass of whom w^ere negroes. 
With such an army, he deserves credit for the humane 
manner in which he generally w^as able to conduct the 
war. 

After a series of successful actions, in January, 1812 
Morelos pushed forward his advanced guard, under 
Bravo, to Calco, with outposts reaching to San Augus- 
tino de las Cuevas. Calleja had just defeated Hidalgo, 
and was summoned to oppose him with his his army, 
which Morelos was determined to fight at Cuautla 
Amilpas, about twenty-two leagues from Mexico. 

Calleja immediately set out to obey the order of 
Vanegas, to oppose Morelos ; but it is now necessary 
to describe the events which occurred on his march. 
The junta established by Rayon at Ziticuaro, was con- 
sidered by the Spaniards as their most formidable 
enemy, and Calleja was ordered positively to disperse it. 
On the 1st of January, after a march of great hard- 
ship, he reached this place, and on the 2d carried it. 



THE RETOLUTION CONTINUED. 49 

The junta escaped to Sultepec, and Calleja immediately 
rased the walls of the town, after having passed a fort- 
night there in the examination of Rayon's papers. This 
was not all; the people were decimated, and every 
house, except the churches, burned. From Ziticuaro he 
proceeded to Mexico, into which he made a procession, 
and a Te Dmm in honor of his victories was sung in 
the cathedral. 

On the 14th Calleja left the capital to oppose 
Morelos, who, as we have said, was at Cuautla Amilpas. 
On the 18th of February the two forces first came in 
contact ; on which occasion Morelos, who had gone out 
to reconnoitre, was near being taken, and owed his 
safety entirely to Ermengildo Galeano. On this occasion 
Jose Maria Fernandez, afterwards known as General 
Victoria, first appeared on the stage. His father was a 
land-owner in the neighborhood of San Luis de Potosi, 
and when the cura Hidalgo first pronounced against the 
government, Fernandez, just twenty-two, had concluded 
his studies for the law. He immediately determined to 
adopt the popular cause, but did not declare himself 
until he saw a man appear, whom he thought capable 
of ruling the storm. As soon as Morelos became known 
he at once recognised him as the man he sought, and 
left Mexico to place himself under his orders. In this 
skirmish he received a severe wound and saved Ga- 
leano's life. On this occasion Morelos had the satisfac- 
tion to see his negro levies meet the Spanish veterans with 
a firmness which realized all he had hoped, but dared 
not anticipate. On the 19th, Calleja assaulted the town 
in four columns, with great fierceness. The Mexicans 
suffered him to approach till within one hundred yards, 
when they opened on them a fire which could not be 
withstood. The Spaniards fled precipitately, and Ga- 



50 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

leaiio having discovered a Spanish colonel seeking to 
rally his men, sallied out, and in a hand to hand contest 
killed him. The consequence was, that all four columns 
were repulsed, after an action which lasted from seven 
A. M. till three P. M., and Calleja was forced to retreat, 
having lost five hundred men. So completely was he 
discouraged, that he wrote for a siege train to the vice- 
roy, who immediately complied with his request, and 
sent him reinforcements under Llano, who had previ- 
ously served against Morelos. The courier, however, 
who conveyed to Llano his orders, fell into the hands of 
the insurgents, and Morelos was informed of the approach 
of this body. He, however, was aware that all Mexico 
looked anxiously at Cuautla. He determined, therefore, 
to defend himself, and did so with the gallantry which 
was his characteristic. Llano was, when he received the 
viceroy's orders, about to attack Izucar, defended by 
Guerrero. During the revolution this general has 
received forty wounds, and undergone perils, his escape 
from which seem miraculous. In one instance a shell 
exploded in a house in which he was asleep and killed 
every individual but himself. Llano immediately de- 
serted this formidable opponent, and on the first of 
March joined Calleja. On the 4th both attacked the 
place with their batteries. The cannonade continued 
for a long time, but Cuautla held out manfully. The 
Bravos and Lorios attempted to attack Calleja's rear, but 
failed. Calleja attempted to cut off the small stream 
which supplied Cuautla with water, but Galeano, in his 
turn, contrived to thwart this plan. 

After various other attempts, which were sometimes 
made by one and then by the other party, Morelos 
determined to evacuate the town, which he did success- 
fully in the presence of a superior force, by a manoeuvrf 



THE REVOLUTION— CONTINUED. 51 

SO peculiar, that it deserves especial mention. On the 
2d of May, in the middle of the night, the troops were 
formed, the main body under command of Morelos, 
the van of Galeano, and the rear of the Bravos. They 
reached the Spanish lines and passed two of the batte- 
ries unobserved ; nor was it until they reached a deep 
baranca or ravine, that they were noticed. Over this 
they were obhged to construct a bridge, w^hich was done 
with hurdles borne by the Indians, so that a sentinel 
gave the alarm before Galeano was able to cut him down. 
Immediately on crossing the baranca, the column w^as 
attacked both by Llano and Calleja. This had been fore- 
seen, and orders given, should it occur, for a general dis- 
persion and to rendezvous at Izucar. So w^ell was it 
effected, that like the children of the mist, the patriots 
became invisible ; and the royal troops, completely 
amazed, began to fire on each other. Izucar was in 
possession of Don Miguel Bravo, and on his arrival 
there Morelos had the satisfaction to find but seventeen 
were missing ; among w^hom, however, was Don Leon- 
ardo Bravo, who was made prisoner. Calleja was for 
a long time afraid to enter Cuautla ; w^hen he did so it 
was to commit outrages which must ever stain his 
reputation. On the 16th the army returned to the capi- 
tal, and an attempt was made to magnify its achieve- 
ments into a triumph. Rumor had, however, preceded 
the army ; and every one knew the victor had first been 
defeated and then outwitted, so that Calleja was ridi- 
culed. Morelos had received a slight injury at Cuautla, 
which detained him some time at Izucar. On his reco- 
very he again took the field at the head of his troops, 
whom one of his lieutenants, the Padre Matamoras, had 
brought to a high state of dicipline. He successively 
defeated three Spanish divisions, and made a triumphal 



52 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

entry into Tehuacan, a city of La Puebla, on the 16th 
of September, 1812. He carried the city of Orizaba 
by a coup de main^ captnring nine pieces of artillery and 
an immense booty in money and tobacco. On being 
driven by a superior force from that place, he undertook 
his famous expedition against Oaxaca, the most beauti- 
ful spot perhaps of all Mexico. 

At that time there were no roads in Mexi(;o except 
those connecting the great cities, and the army suf- 
fered much hardship on the march. The city was 
commanded by the Brigadier Regules, who sought to 
defend it. The artillery of the insurgents, commanded 
by Don Miguel Mier y Teran, having silenced that of 
Regules, he made a last stand on the edge of the moat 
which surrounded the city, over which there was but 
one drawbridge, which was elevated, and the approach 
to it defended by the royalist infantry. The insurgents 
having paused at this obstacle, Guadalupe Victoria 
swam the moat, sword in hand, and cut the ropes of the 
bridge unresisted; the battle was thus won, and the 
capital of the vale of Oaxaca taken possession of by 
Morelos. He then released all political offenders (and 
many were confined in the prisons), and set about the 
conquest of the rest of the province, which he completed 
on the 30th of August, 1813, when Acapulco surren- 
dered, having been besieged from the 15th of February 
by his army, now equal to any in discipline and effec- 
tiveness. 

The Spanish flag having been hauled down for ever 
at Acapulco, Morelos returned to Oaxaca, where Mata- 
moros had prepared all for the meeting of the national 
congress, which was composed of the junta ofZiticuaro, 
deputies elected by Oaxaca and selected from all those 
provinces in which the people dared not meet. This 



THE RKYOLUTION CONTINUED. 53 

body convened September 13th, 1813, at the town of 
Chilpanzingo, and declared the independence of Mexi- 
co the 13th of November of that year. Had this event 
taken place earlier, it might have resulted in good ; but 
Morelos soon after had an enemy to oppose him, so 
numerous, that he was unable fully to protect it. We 
have mentioned that, at Cuautla, one of the Bravos was 
taken prisoner, and refer to it again to mention an act 
of forbearance which would do honor to any country. 
Several engagements having taken place, the patriots 
were in possession of more than three hundred Span- 
iards, whom Morelos placed at the disposal of Nicolas 
Bravo, to enable him to effect an exchange for his father 
Leonardo, the captive, then under sentence of death in 
Mexico. The whole of these prisoners were offered to 
Vanegas for Leonardo, whom the viceroy immediately 
ordered to be executed. The son, instead of making 
reprisals, liberated the whole body, and assigned as his 
reason for doing so, that he feared he might not be able 
to resist the constant temptation to revenge, their presence 
exposed him to. On the 18th of November, 1813, at 
Palmar, Matamoros defeated the Spaniards after a 
severe fight, which lasted eight hours ; cutting off the 
regiment of Astmias, which had been at Baylen, and 
won there the cogiiomen of invincible. This is not 
the only instance in which reputations won in the penin- 
sular campaigns, were lost in America. The capture 
of this regiment, composed altogether of Europeans, w^as 
considered to have finally destroyed the prestige of 
Spanish superiority, which had long trembled before 
the fierceness of the attacks of Hidalgo and Morelos. 

An expedition against Valladolid was agreed on, 
which would have placed Morelos in connexion with the 
insurgents of the provincias intemas, to effect which he 
8 



54 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

collected seven thousand men. At Valladblid, where 
he arrived on the 23d of December, he found Llano and 
Iturbide at the head of a formidable body of men, whom 
he immediately attacked, and by whom he was repulsed. 
On the next morning Iturbide made a sally which would 
have failed, the insurgents having after a short check been 
rallied. Unfortunately, a body of reinforcements for 
them, which arrived just then, were mistaken for enemies 
and fired upon. They immediately charged the force of 
Morelos. Of this scene of confusion Iturbide took 
advantage, and routed the whole army, which fled to 
Puruaran. 

There they were again attacked, and Matamoros made 
prisoner. The patriot forces being signally defeated, 
January 6th, 1814, Morelos sought in vain to exchange 
for Matamoros a number of the prisoners taken at Pal- 
mar, when the regiment of Asturias was cut to pieces. 
Calleja, however, was now viceroy, and was inexorable, 
ordering Matamoros to be shot. We cannot censure 
the fearful retribution taken by the patriots, who imme- 
diately, in retaliation for him and Don Valentino Bravo, 
ordered all their prisoners to be put to death. 

Morelos sent Don Manuel Mier y Teran to take com- 
mand in La Puebla, and Victoria to the district of Vera 
Cruz. This was a dark period to the patriots ; and after 
suffering several defeats, losing Miguel Bravo, who was 
executed, Galeano, who died in battle, and being unable 
to protect the Congress, which was driven from Chil- 
panzingo to the woods of Aputzingan, where, however, 
it continued its labors and put forth the constitution of 
1814 ; Morelos was induced to undertake the expedition 
to Tehuacan, in Puebla, where Teran had collected 
a body of five hundred men. On this expedition 
Morelos had but five hundred men, and had to march 



THE REVOLUTION CONTINUED. 55 

Sixty leagues across a country in possession of the loy- 
alists. Couriers he had sent to Guerrero and Teran 
were intercepted, so that these generals could not learn his 
position ; and the royalists having ascertained how feeble 
he was, attacked him on the morning of the 15th, in a 
mountainous road. An admirable writer thus describes 
what follows of his history : 

« He immediately ordered Don Nicolas Bravo to con- 
tinue his march with the main body, as an escort to 
the congress, while he himself with a few men endeavored 
to check the advance of the Spaniards. 

" < My life,' he said, « is of little consequence, pro- 
vided the congress be saved. My race was run from 
the moment that I saw an independent government 
established.' 

" His orders were obeyed, and Morelos remained with 
about fifty men, most of whom abandoned him when the 
firing became hot. He succeeded, however, in gaining 
time, which was his great object, nor did the royalists 
venture to advance upon him, until only one man was 
left by his side. He was then taken prisoner, though he 
had sought death in vain during the action. There can be 
little doubt that his late reverses had inspired him with 
a disgust for life, and that he wished to end his days by 
a proof of devotion to his country worthy the most 
brilliant part of his former career. 

« Morelos was treated with the greatest brutality by 
the Spanish soldiers into whose hands he first fell. 
They stripped him, and conducted him, loaded with 
chains, to Tesmalaca. But Concha (to his honor be it 
said), on his prisoner being presented to him, received 
him with the respect due to a fallen enemy, and treated 
him with unwonted humanity and attention. He was 
transferred, with as little delay as possible, to the capi- 



56 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

tal, and the whole population of Mexico flocked out to 
San Agustin de las Cuevas, to see (and some to insult) 
the man, whose name had so long been their terror. 
But Morelos, both on his way to prison, and while in 
confinement, is said to have shown a coolness which he 
preserved to the last. Indeed, the only thing that 
seemed to affect him at all was his degradation ; a cere- 
mony humiliating in itself, but rendered doubly so, in 
his case, by the publicity which was given to it. His 
examination was conducted by the Oidor Bataller 
(whose insolent assertion of the natural superiority of the 
Spaniards to the Creoles, is said to have roused Morelos 
into action), and was not of long duration. On the 
22d of December, 1815, Concha was charged to 
remove him from the prisons of the Inquisition to the 
hospital of San Christoval, behind which, the sentence 
pronounced against him was to be carried into execu- 
tion. On arriving there, he dined in company with 
Concha, whom he afterwards embraced, and thanked 
for his kindness. He then confessed himself, and 
walked, with the most perfect serenity, to the place of 
execution. The short prayer which he pronounced 
there, deserves to be recorded for its affecting simpli- 
city. < Lord, if I have done well, thou knowest it ; if 
ill, to thy infinite mercy I commend my soul !' 

" After this appeal to the Supreme Judge, he fastened 
with his own hands a handkerchief about his eyes, gave 
the signal to the soldiers to fire, and met death with as 
much composure as he had ever shown when facing it 
on the field of battle." 



CHAPTER IV. 

REVOLUTION— FROM THE DEATH OF MORELOS, 
DECEMBER 22d, 1815, TO 1820. 

Dissolution of the Mexican congress — New Spanish constitu- 
tion — Battles in Texas — Teran — Rayon — ^Nicolas Bravo— 
Guadalupe Victoria — Mina — Gloomy aspect of the revolu- 
tionary cause. 

The heroic days of the revolution thus terminated, 
and with Morelos apparently died all union, no 
one else seeming to have the power to induce the insur- 
gent chiefs to act in concert. Each province considered 
itself independent ; and in consequence of this fatal dis- 
union, though supported in many parts of the country 
by great military ability, the cause of liberty decidedly 
lost ground. Morelos always intended the congress to 
be a source of union, to which his lieutenants might look, 
as to himself, in case of accident ; but few of his officers 
recognised its authority as fully as he had done. On the 
22d of October, 1814, the congress was driven by Itur- 
bide from Apatzingan to Michoacan, whence Bravo es- 
corted it to Tehuacan ; there some difficulties having 
arisen between the military and civil authorities, Teran, 
on the 15th of December, 1815, forcibly dissolved it. 
This act has been severely reprobated, but has been 
perhaps misunderstood. There is no doubt but that 
the congress was valuable as a point of union, but it is 
also true that the demands of this body would have 
ruined the district he commanded. Among other things, 
the congress appropriated eight thousand dollars a year 
for each of its members, and took the management of 



58 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

the funds from the military commandant to yield it to 
one of its own officers ; which made Teran, whose ser- 
vices had been great, a mere dependant. The remoter 
chiefs having refused to contribute to this body, Teran 
was in self-defence forced to dissolve it. The effects 
of the dissolution of this only central government Mexi- 
co had yet had were most disastrous, and resulted in the 
crushing, in succession, of Victoria, Rayon, Bravo, 
Guerrero, and Teran, each of whom was unable to call 
on the other for aid. A multitude of minor chiefs 
shared the same fate; and the arrival of fresh troops 
from the peninsula enabled the viceroy to keep open a 
communication through the whole country, and almost 
to restore Spanish authority. To effecting this consum- 
mation, not the least important adjunct was the publica- 
tion of the indulto or pardon to all who would lay down 
their arms, which the viceroy Apodaca ( Villeja having 
gone to Spain ) was authorized to make, and which re- 
duced to an inconsiderable number the insurgents who 
yet kept the field. 

These reverses were, however, fully compensated 
for by the effect produced by the introduction into 
Mexico of the Spanish constitution sanctioned by the 
cortes of Cadiz, in which sat representatives from 
America to the number of fifty, while from all the rest 
of the empire there were but one hundred and thirty-two 
members, on the 29th of March, 1812. Some account 
of this constitution is necessary to the correct intelli- 
gence of the subsequent history of the Mexican war of 
independence. 

By its provisions the Spanish nation was declared to 
consist of all Spaniards in either hemisphere. Spaniards 
were all free men, born and residing in the Spanish 
dominions, and others to whom the same privileges 



THE REVOLUTION — CJONTINUED. 59 

might be granted. Spanish citizens, who alone could 
vote, be elected, or be appointed to civil trusts and 
offices, were all Spaniards except those who were, by 
either parent, of African descent ; the latter might, how- 
ever, be admitted to those privileges under certain cir- 
cumstances. The government was to be an hereditary- 
monarchy, Ferdinand VII. being recognised as the 
king ; the powers of the state, however, were divided 
into three branches — the legislative, the executive, and 
the judicial — the attributes of each of which were dis- 
tinctly defined. The legislative power was to be exer- 
cised by a single body of deputies, chosen indirectly for 
two years, by the citizens, the king possessing only a 
limited right of veto upon its enactments ; the executive 
duties were committed to the king, who was aided by 
a council of state, and acted through nine responsible 
ministers; to the audiencias or courts alone belonged 
the application of the laws in civil and criminal cases. 
The territories of the empire were to be divided into 
provinces, all of which w^ere to be governed in the same 
manner by a chief, whom the king would appoint, and 
a provincial deputation composed of members chosen 
biennially by the citizens ; the basis of the national repre- 
sentation was to be the same in every part of the 
dominions, the number of deputies sent by each pro- 
vince being proportioned to the number of Spanish citi- 
zens inhabiting it. The council of the Indies, which 
had disappeared in the course of the great political tem- 
pest, was replaced by a minister of the Jdngdom beyond 
sea ; the press was freed from all restrictions, and from 
all responsibility, except such as might be imposed on 
it by the laws. In fine, throughout the whole Spanish 
empire, the same forms of administration were esta- 
blished, and the same civil rights were recognised, no 



60 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHiiEFTAINS. 

privilege or disability being founded on birth-place or 
descent, except with regard to persons of African origin. 
The central government was empowered to delay the 
extension of the privileges in those parts of the dominions 
to which it should not be considered judicious to apply 
them immediately. 

The constitution was made known in some parts of 
America before, and in others after, the arrival of the 
forces sent from Spain to reduce them to submission. 
Neither the arrow nor the olive branch proved effectual 
for that purpose ; resistance was opposed to the former 
wherever it was practicable ; the latter was generally 
rejected with scorn, and when accepted was only used 
as a means of offence against those who offered it. Long 
experience of the falsehood and injustice of the Spanish 
government had rendered the Americans suspicious with 
regard to its concessions ; no confidence was placed in 
the sincerity of the cortes, in holding out these liberal 
terms, or in the power of that body to maintain the new 
institutions. Distrust was felt, if not expressed, by every 
thinking individual, and the patriots absolutely disre- 
garded it in America. It had been published there 
under the viceroyalty of Vanegas, who soon saw he 
could not maintain his authority in the face of this con^ 
stitution, and therefore, after two months, began to sus- 
pend provision after provision, till but its inanimate 
skeleton remained. It was, however, a concession which 
could not be revoked, and made the after revolution 
more popular and universal. The people had been deter- 
mined to make use of their new privileges, and made 
this virtual revocation necessary. 

We have previously neglected to mention that from 
time to time, in the northern provinces of Mexico, several 
attempts were made by persons coming from the United 



THE REVOLUTION CONTINUED. 61 

Stales, either to co-operate with the insurgents, or to 
establish a new republic. During the year 1812 and 
1813, several bloody battles were fought between the 
invaders and the royal forces in the province of Texas ; 
the latter w^re ultimately successful, but the islands in 
the vicinity of the coasts became places of refuge and 
rendezvous for pirates, professing to act against Spain 
under commissions from various independent govern- 
ments in America. 

It is impossible to follow in detail the events of this 
period, but it wuU be necessary to give some sketch of 
the military events, and of the leaders who intervene 
between this period and the rise of Iturbide. 

Teran, the first w^ho presents himself to us after the 
dissolution of the congress on the 22d of December, 1815, 
was engaged for some months in an adventurous strife, 
in which he was generally successful, though his efforts 
were cramped for w^ant of arms ; to obtain which, he 
made an expedition to the mouth of the river Guasa- 
coalco, where he was to be met by a vessel from the 
United States. To accomplish this, he had an escort 
of but three hundred men, having left the rest of his 
troops at a powder manufactory he had established at 
Cerro Colorado. Being overtaken by the rainy season, 
he made in ten days a road across the marsh leading to 
Amistar, which yet exists, and is acknowledged to be a 
most wonderful work. Thence he proceeded to Plaza 
Vicente, the depot of the Vera Cruz traders, and 
defeated a force of eleven hundred royalists, commanded 
by Topete, which attacked him on the 10th of Septem- 
ber. His plan for seizing Guasacoalco having been dis- 
covered, he returned to Tehuacan, where he was forced 
to surrender, January 21st, 1817, to four thousand 
troops, detached by the viceroy against him, and com- 



62 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

manded by Col. Bracho, who besieged him at Colorado. 
He then lived in obscurity until the revolution of 1821 
at La Puebla, his life having been secured by the terms 
of his capitulation. He has been minister of war and 
plenipotentiary to England in 1825. He had the repu- 
tation always of being a good officer, and commanded 
probably the best brigade in the patriot service. He 
has never recovered from the prejudice excited against 
him for his suppression of the congress, and therefore 
has not held office as often as his high talents would have 
entitled him to. He was but a short time since alive, 
and if now living, can be but little over fifty. 

Rayon had a far shorter career, and probably of all 
the men in the service was the most accomplished. He 
has been pointed out by those who knew him as an 
example of Cervantes' proverb, that the lance never 
dulled the pen or the pen the lance. He was one of 
Morelos's lieutenants, and exercised an independent 
command in the mountains of Valladolid, where betook 
advantage of the natural difficulties of the country and 
of the devotion of the natives to him. His principal 
strong hold was the Cerro de Corporo, in which he was 
besieged by Llano and Iturbide in January 1815, whom 
he beat off on the 4th of March. Corporo was after- 
wards besieged by Aguierre in Rayon's absence, and 
was surrendered January 2d, 1817. Don Ignacio 
Rayon was subsequently deserted by his followers and 
fell into the hands of Armijo, and was imprisoned in the 
capital till 1821. He was in 1828 a general, and occu- 
pied a high position in the esteem of the people. Amid 
the turmoils of the later revolutions he has disappeared 
from history. 

Nicolas Bravo was one of a family of patriots with 
^'hom the reader is now familiar. After the dissolution 



THE REVOLUTION CONTINUED. 63 

of the congress, he wandered at the head of his com- 
mand over Mexico, without being able to make head 
against any of his pursuers. When Mina landed (of 
whom more anon), he sought to fortify Corporo, but was 
driven from it by a royalist force, and afterwards taken 
by Armijo, in December, 1817, and confined in the capi- 
tal till 1821. After aiding Iturbide to establish inde- 
pendence, he declared against him when he dissolved 
the congress, and contributed greatly to his deposition. 
He ultimately became the first vice-president of the re- 
public, when Guadalupe Victoria was placed at the head 
of the nation. 

No one of the insurgent chiefs were pursued with 
such inveteracy, by the royal troops, as this general, 
whose position, in the province of Vera Cruz, was 
a constant source of uneasiness to the viceroy. From 
the moment that he was deputed by Morelos to take the 
eastern line of coast, (1814,) he succeeded in cutting 
off almost all communication between the capital and 
the only port through which intercourse with Europe 
w^as, at that time, carried on. This he effected at the 
head of a force which seldom exceeded two thousand 
men ; but a perfect acquaintance with the country, 
(which is extremely mountainous and intricate), and an 
unlimited influence over the minds of his followers, 
made up for all deficiencies in point of numbers, and 
rendered Victoria, very shortly, the terror of the Spanish 
forces. 

It was his practice to keep but a small body of 
men about his person, and only to collect his force upon 
great occasions : a mode of w^arfkre well suited to the 
wild habits of the natives, and, at the same time, calcu- 
lated to baffle pursuit. The instant a blow was struck, 
a general dispersion followed : in the event of a failure. 



64 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEiTAINS. 

a rendezvous was fixed for some distant point ; and thus 
losses were often repaired, before it was known in the 
capital that they had been sustained at all. 

Nor were Victoria's exploits confined to this desul 
tory warfare : in 1815 he detained a convoy of six thou- 
sand mules, escorted by two thousand men, under the 
command of Colonel Aguila, at Puente del Rey, (a pass, 
the natural strength of which the insurgents had in- 
creased by placing artillery upon the heights, by which 
it is commanded), nor did it reach Vera Cruz for up- 
ward of six months. The necessity of keeping the 
channel of communication with Europe open, induced 
Calleja, in December 1815, to intrust the chief command, 
both civil and military, of the province of Vera Cruz, 
to Don Fernando Miyares, (an officer of high rank and 
distinguished attainments, recently arrived from Spain), 
for the special purpose of establishing a chain of fortified 
posts, on the whole ascent to the table-land, sufficiently 
strong to curb Victoria's incursions. The execution of 
this plan was preceded, and accompanied, by a series 
of actions between the insurgents and royalists, in the 
course of which Miyares gradually drove Victoria from 
his strong-holds at Puente del Rey and Puente de San 
Juan, (September 1815) ; and although the latter main- 
tained the unequal struggle for upwards of two years, he 
never was able to obtain any decisive advantage over 
the reinforcements, which the government was continu- 
ally sending to the seat of war. Two thousand Euro- 
pean troops landed with Miyares, and one thousand more 
with Apodaca, (in 1816) ; and notwithstanding the des- 
perate effiDrts of Victoria's men, their courage was of no 
avail against the superior discipline and arras of their 
adversaries. In the course of the year 1816, most of 
bis old soldiers fell : those by whom he replaced them 



THE REVOLUTION CONTINUED. 65 

had neither the same enthusiasm, nor the same attach- 
ment to his person. The zeal with which the inhabitants 
had enofao^ed in the cause of the revolution, was worn 
out : with each reverse their discouragement increased, 
and, as the disastrous accounts from the interior left 
them but little hope of bringing the contest to a favora- 
ble issue, the villages refused to furnish any farther sup- 
plies ; the last remnant of Victoria's foUow^ers deserted 
him, and he was left absolutely alone. Still his courage 
w^as unsubdued, and his resolution not to yield, on any 
terms, to the Spaniards, unshaken. He refused the 
rank and rewards which Apodaca proffered as the price 
of his submission, and determined to seek an asylum in 
the solitudes of the forests, rather than accept the in- 
dulto, on the faith of which so many of the insurgents 
yielded up their arms. This extraordinary project was 
carried into execution with a decision highly character- 
istic of the man. Unaccompanied by a single attendant, 
and provided only w^ith a little linen, and a sword, Vic- 
toria threw himself into the mountainous district which 
occupies so large a portion of the province of Vera Cruz, 
and disappeared to the eyes of his countrymen. His 
after-history is so extremely wild, that I should hardly 
venture to relate it here, did not the unanimous evi- 
dence of his countrymen confirm the story of his suffer- 
ings, many of them heard it from his own mouth. 

During the first few weeks, Victoria was supplied 
with provisions by the Indians, who all knew and 
r^pected his name ; but Apodaca was so apprehensive 
that he would again emerge from his retreat, that a 
thousand men were ordered out, in small detachments, 
literally to hunt him down. Wherever it was discov 
ered that a village had either received him, or relieved 
his wants, it was burnt without mercy ; and this rigor 
5 



66 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

struck the Indians with such terror, that they either fled 
at the sight of Victoria, or were the first to denounce 
the approach of a man, whose presence might prove so 
fatal to them. For upwards of six months, he was fol- 
lowed like a wild beast by his pursuers, who were often 
so near him, that he could hear their imprecations 
against himself, and Apodaca too, for having con- 
demned them to so fruitless a search. On one occasion 
he escaped a detachment, which he fell in with unex- 
pectedly, by swimming a river, which they were unable 
to cross ; and on several others, he concealed himself, 
when in the immediate vicinity of the royal troops, 
beneath the thick shrubs and creepers with which the 
woods of Vera Cruz abound. At last a story was made 
up, to satisfy the viceroy, of a body having been found, 
which had been recognised as that of Victoria. A 
minute description was given of his person, which was 
inserted officially in the Gazette of Mexico, and the 
troops were recalled to more pressing labors in the 
interior. 

But Victoria's trials did not cease with the pursuit : 
harassed and worn out by the fatigues which he had 
undergone, his clothes torn to pieces, and his body lace- 
rated by the thorny underwood of the tropics, he was 
indeed allowed a little tranquillity, but his sufferings 
were still almost incredible : during the summer he 
managed to subsist upon the fruits of which nature is so 
lavish in those climates ; but in winter he was attenuated 
by hunger, and he has been repeatedly heard to affirm, 
that no repast has afforded him so much pleasure since, as 
he experienced, after being long deprived of food, in 
gnawing the bones of horses, or other animals, that he 
happened to find dead in the woods. By degrees he 
accustomed himself to such abstinence, that he could 



THE REVOLUTION— CONTINUED. 



67 



remain four, and even five days, without taking any 
thing but water, without experiencing any serious in- 
convenience ; but whenever he was deprived of suste- 
nance for a longer period, his sufferings were very acute. 
For thirty months he never tasted bread, nor saw a hu- 
man being, nor thought, at times, ever to see one again. 
His clothes were reduced to a single wrapper of cotton, 
which he found one day, when driven by hunger he had 
approached nearer than usual to some Indian huts, and 
this he regarded as an inestimable treasure. 

The mode in which Victoria, cut off, as he was, from 
all communication with the world, received intelligence 
of the revolution of 1821, is hardly less extraordinary 
than the fact of his having been able to support existence 
amidst so many hardships, during the intervening period. 
When, in 1818, he was abandoned by all the rest of 
his men, he was asked by two Indians, who lingered with 
him to the last, and on whose fidelity he knew that he 
could rely, if any change took place, where he wished them 
to look for him ? He pointed, in reply, to a mountain 
at some distance, and told them that, on that mountain, 
perhaps, they might find his bones. His only reason 
for selecting it, w^as its being particularly ragged, and 
inaccessible, and surrounded by forests of a vast extent. 
The Indians treasured up this hint, and as soon as 
the first news of Iturbide's declaration reached them, 
they set out in quest of Victoria. They separated on 
arriving at the foot of the mountain, and employed six 
whole weeks in examining the woods with which it was 
covered ; during this time, they lived principally by the 
chase ; but finding their stock of maize exhausted, and 
all their efforts unavailing, they were about to give up 
the attempt, when one of them discovered, in crossing 
a ravine, which Victoria occasionally frequented, the 



68 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

print of a foot, which he immediately recogiiised to be 
that of a European. By European, is meant of Euro- 
pean descent, and consequently accustomed to wear 
shoes, which always give a difference of shape to the 
foot, very perceptible to the eye of a native. The Indian 
waited two days upon the spot ; but seeing nothing 
of Victoria, and finding his supply of provisions quite 
at an end, he suspended upon a tree, near the place, 
four tortillas, or little maize cakes, which were all he 
had left, and set out for his village, in order to replenish 
his wallets, hoping that if Victoria should pass in the 
mean time, the tortillas would attract his attention, and 
convince him that some friend was in search of him. 

His little plan succeeded completely : Victoria, on 
crossing the ravine, two days afterwards, perceived 
the maize cakes, which the birds had fortunately not 
devoured. He had then been four whole days without 
eating, and upwards of two years without tasting bread ; 
and, he says himself, that 'he devoured the tortillas be- 
fore the cravings of his appetite would allow him to 
reflect upon the singularity of finding them on this soli- 
tary spot, where he had never before seen any trace of 
a human being. He was at a loss to determine whether 
they had been left there by friend or foe ; but feeling 
sure that whoever left them intended to return, he con- 
cealed himself near the place, in order to observe his 
motions, and to take his own measures accordingly. 

Within a short time the Indian returned, and Victo- 
ria, who recognised him, abruptly started from his con- 
cealment, to welcome his faithful follower; but the 
man, terrified at seeing a phantom covered with hair, 
emaciated, and clothed only with on old cotton wrap- 
her, advancing upon him with a sword in his hand, 
from amongst the bushes, took to flight ; and it was 



THE REVOLUTION CONTINUED. 69 

only on hearing himself repeatedly called by his name, 
that he recovered his composure sufficiently to recog- 
nise his old general. He was affected beyond measure 
at the state in which he found him, and conducted him 
instantly to the village, where Victoria was received with 
the greatest enthusiasm. The report of his reappearance 
spread, like lightning, through the province, where it was 
not credited at first, so firmly was every one convinced of 
his death; but as soon as it was known that Guada- 
lupe Victoria was indeed in existence, all the old insur- 
gents rallied around him. In an incredibly short time, 
he induced the whole province, with the exception of 
the fortified towns, to declare for independence, and 
then set out to join Iturbide, who was, at that time, 
preparing for the siege of Mexico. He was received 
with great apparent cordiality; but his independent 
spirit was too little in unison with Iturbide's projects, 
for this good understanding to continue long. Victoria 
had fought for a liberal form of government, and not 
merely for a change of masters ; and Iturbide, unable to 
gain him over, drove him again into the woods during 
his short-lived reign, from whence ne only returned to 
give the signal for a general rising against the too ambi- 
tious emperor. 

The history of the revolution now becomes identified 
with the life of Xavier Mina, who, while all in Spain 
thought the royal cause prospering, nearly ruined it. 
Among those who had been obliged to fly from Spain 
after the overthrow of the constitution by Ferdinand, in 
1814, was Xavier Mina, a relation of the well known 
general of the same name. Burning with indignation 
and a desire of revenge, not only against the monarch 
who had, as he conceived, acted thus unworthily, but 
also, in fact, against the nation, which had so joyfully 



70 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

seconded the shameful deed, this young man came to 
the United States, where he succeeded in obtaining the 
means of fitting out a small expedition. With this force 
he sailed from the Chesapeake on the 1st of September, 
1816 ; and, after various delays at Port au Prince, Gal- 
veston, and other places, where he made small additions 
to his troops and equipments, he landed on the 15th of 
April following, with three hundred men of all nations, 
near Soto la Marina, a small place on the western shore 
of the Mexican Gulf, at the mouth of the river Santander, 
and about eighty miles south of the entrance of the Rio 
del Norte. At this time, the fortunes of the independ- 
ents in Mexico were in the ebb. The congress had 
published a republican constitution on the 22d of Octo- 
ber, 1814 ; but all the advantages which were anticipa- 
ted from this act, as a means of promoting union and 
subordination among the partisans of the cause, were 
lost before the end of the following year, by the seizure 
and subsequent execution of Morelos. While this devo- 
ted and energetic leader was in command, obedience 
was paid by all the insurgents to the orders of the con- 
gress ; after his capture, however, this body w^as regarded 
rather as an incumbrance than otherw^ise, and was at 
length forcibly dissolved, or rather dispersed, by Don 
Manuel de Mier y Teran, a young chief to w^hose charge 
its defence had been committed. The insurgent leaders 
then partitioned the country among themselves, and each 
from his fort or fastness kept the surrounding district in 
awe and trouble. Guerrero betook himself to the 
Pacific coast near Acapulco ; Rayon ruled in the moun- 
tains of Valladolid, and Guadalupe Victoria in those 
of Vera Cruz ; Teran established himself on the borders 
of Oaxaca and Puebla; the barbarian, Padre Torres, 
with his band ravaged the beautiful region called the 



THE REVOLUTION— CONTINUED. 7i 

Baxio of Guanaxuato, while Nicolas, the sole survivor 
of the gallant Bravo family, wandered about with his 
followers. The arrival of troops from Spain, after the 
restoration of Ferdinand, enabled Calleja, however, to 
keep up his chains of posts throughout the country, by 
means of which the insurgents were becoming daily more 
straitened, and their communications with each other 
were rendered more difficult. 

In 1816 Calleja returned to Spain, having been 
replaced as viceroy of Mexico by Don Ruiz de Apo- 
daca, a man of a comparatively mild disposition, who 
was charged to offer more favorable terms to the insur- 
gents. As his character was well known, those terms 
were readily accepted, and ere he had been in power a 
year, many, not only of the subordinates, but also of the 
chiefs of the independents, accepted the indulto, or act 
of indemnity proclaimed by him, and returned to the 
occupations of peaceful life. Among the chiefs who 
thus submitted, were Nicolas Bravo, Osourno, and 
Rayon, all of whom remained in obscurity until 1821 ; 
Victoria about the same time disappeared, and was 
believed to be dead, and the only leader of consequence 
among the insurgents who, in 1817, remained in com- 
mand, was the priest Jose Torres. 

The viceroy had received notice from Havana, of 
the approach of Mina's expedition, to intercept which, 
he had sent out several ships of war ; as he, however, 
could not learn where the invaders intended to land, his 
other preparations for defence w^ere necessarily of a 
general character. From these circumstances, Mina 
found little or no opposition at Soto la Marina, and hav- 
ing built a temporary fort near that place, in which some 
men were lefl as a garrison, he commenced his march 
into the interior on the 24th of May, and the first action 



72 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

with the royalist forces took place on the 12th of June, 
at Peotillos, about forty miles from the city of San Luis 
Potosi ; in this Mina was successful, and before the end 
of the month he effected a juncture with the redoubtable 
Father Torres, in the Baxio of Guanaxuato. 

We cannot particularize the events of the short but 
brilliant career of Mina in Mexico ; brilliant it was, from 
the constant display of boldness, energy and courage, 
under difficulties which, as he could not but have seen 
within a short time after his landing in Mexico, were 
insuperable. The number of his followers increased but 
little; the natives who joined him being scarcely more 
than sufficient to supply the place of those who fell in 
cattle or from fatigue ; while on the other hand, they 
fought with the incumbrances of women and children; 
to crown all, Mina soon found that he was himself the 
object of jealousy and hatred, on the part of Father 
Torres. Concert of action was thus impossible ; the 
foreigners were viewed with mistrust and dislike by the 
people ; and except when their protection was wanted, 
were soon left to provide for and to defend themselves 
as they might. Meanwhile the viceroy was unremitting 
in his exertions to destroy them ; troops were gathering 
around them from every direction ; escape was impos- 
sible, and they had only to sell their lives as dearly as 
they could. 

The fort at Soto la Marina fell first ; garrisoned by 
only a hundred and thirteen men, under Major Sarda, 
an Italian, it was attacked by General Arredondo, the 
commander of the eastern provinces, with no less than 
two thousand regular soldiers. The garrison held out 
for some days, until at length, its numbers having been 
reduced to thirty seven, the fort was surrendered by 
capitulation, on the 15th of June. The terms of the 



THE REVOLUTION CONTINUED. 73 

capitulation were of course disregarded ; and the unfor- 
tunate foreigners expiated their rashness and folly by 
imprisonment for the remainder of their lives in loath- 
some dungeons at Ulua, Ceuta, Cadiz, and other places. 

The Sombrero, a fort in Guanaxuato, occupied by a 
body of Mina's men, under Colonel Young, an Ameri- 
can, was also invested by a considerable force of royal- 
ists, commanded by General Lilian. On the night of 
the 19th of August, the able-bodied soldiers of the gar- 
rison, with the women and children, evacuated the place, 
leaving the sick and the wounded to the tender mercies 
of the Spaniards. Linan, however, having learned their 
intention, set upon them during their retreat, and killed 
the greater part ; he then butchered the wounded whom 
he found in the fort, and sent the prisoners, some to 
execution, others to join their comrades in their dun- 
geons. 

Mina had in the interval so far gained upon the feel- 
ings of the Mexicans, that he had assembled nearly a 
thousand men under his command. With these he at 
first established himself in another fort in Baxio, called 
Remedios, when he was joined by the remnants of the 
garrison of Sombrero ; and removing thence, he, in a 
short space of time, reduced several of the strongholds 
of the royalists. At length, on the 23d day of October, 
he ventured to attack the city of Guanaxuato ; having 
no artillery, his attempt proved vain, he w^as obliged to 
retreat and immediately found himself almost deserted. 
On the 27th, while reposing in a farm-house called the 
Venadito, he was betrayed, surrounded, and made pri- 
soner. 

The news of Mina's seizure was celebrated by public 
rejoicings and religious thanksgivings throughout Mexico. 
He was of course ordered to be instantly executed, and 



74 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

was accordingly shot on the 11th of November, at Te- 
peaca, in sight of the fort of Remedios, which was then 
besieged by the Spaniards. That fort soon after fell, and 
before the year 1817, not more than twenty of those who 
had landed with Mina at Soto la Marina in April, were 
alive and not in dungeons. In reward for the success 
of his efforts in effecting the overthrow of Mina, Apo- 
daca was made Count of Venadito. 

After the death of Morel os, the dismissal of the 
Mexican congress by Teran, and the complete destruc- 
tion of Mina and his followers, the hopes of the partisans 
of independence rapidly sunk. The system of energy 
on the one hand, and of conciliation on the other, pursued 
by the viceroy, Apodaca, daily overthrew or disarmed 
the enemies of the Spanish authority. There was no 
longer among the insurgents any directing power, to which 
the various chiefs would bow ; each was absolute over his 
own followers, and would brook no interference on the 
part of another leader ; and combination of movements 
among them was rendered impossible by mutual jeal- 
ousies and mistrusts. Under these circumstances, the 
war gradually became merely a series of contests 
between the legal authorities and hordes of banditti, and 
the wealthy and intelligent part of the population began 
to look to the standard of Spain as the symbol of order, 
and there was every prospect that quiet would be 
gradually restored. The pride of the people had also 
been flattered by the employment of natives in offices 
of trust, profit, and honor ; in this w^ay the elevation of 
Don Antonio Perez, a Mexican priest, of great talent, 
learning, and character, to the high ecclesiastical dignity 
of Bishop of Puebla, had great effect in reconciling 
the inferior clergy, hitherto the most determined oppo- 
nents of European domination. The Spanish troops in 



THE REVOLUTION— CONTINUED. 75 

Mexico at this time did not exceed five thousand ; there 
was, however, a large force of native soldiers, who were 
all well disciplined, and to secure whose fidelity every 
means consistent with prudence was employed by the 
government. The most prominent among the officers 
of this latter force, was Augustin Iturbide, a native of 
Michoacan, who had elevated himself to the rank of 
colonel, by his courage, his activity, and his ferocity 
towards the insurgents ; soon after the arrival of Apo- 
daca, however, he had for some reasons retired from the 
service, and devoted himself to the performance of 
religious acts, in which his scrupulous perseverance had 
caused him to be as much esteemed by the people, for 
the supposed sanctity of his character, as he had been 
before dreaded on account of its manifest ruthlessness. 
This was the man, whom the viceroy selected to carry 
into effect his scheme for maintaining the absolute 
authority of the king in Mexico. 



CHAPTER V. 

DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 

Rise of Iturbide — His services in the Spanish cause — Plan of 
Iguala — O'Donoju — Treaty of Cordova — Iturbide proclaimed 
emperor — Abdicates — His "Statement" — ^Returns to Mexico 
— Arrested and executed — RepubHcan constitution framed. 

This person was, at the period we have reached, the 
leading character of his country. When the revolution 
broke out, he was a lieutenant in the militia of 
Valladolid, of which province he was a native. He 
was very handsome, of elegant address, and with 
polished manners, as well as bold and daring. He 
was one of the first to look into the nature of the 
quarrel between Mexico and the mother country, and 
to adopt the cause of his native land. How this con- 
nexion terminated is now a mystery, two stories having 
been told, the one by Iturbide, that he was disgusted 
with their projects and refused to participate in them, in 
spite of the great offers they made him ; and the other 
by the insurgents, that he demanded more than they 
thought his services worth, so young and so little 
known as he was. One thing is, however, sure, the 
insurgents committed a great oversight, as Iturbide 
would have been an invaluable acquisition at any price. 
Be this as it may, all negotiations were broken off, and 
Iturbide joined the troops assembled by the viceroy 
Vanegas for the defence of Mexico in 1810, and dis- 
tinguished himself under the orders of Truxillo at Las 
Cruces. From that moment his rise was rapid, and his 
knowledge of the country and people rendered his 




Don Auorustino Iturbide. 



DON AUGUSTINO ITUUBIDE. 77 

services invaluable in every expedition. As a guerilla 
chieftain his services were important, and he inflicted on 
the insurgents two of the most important blows they 
sustained, at Valladolid and Puruaran (where Morelos's 
army was defeated and Matamoros captured). He 
never failed but once, which w^as in the attack on Corporo 
in 1815 ; w'hen he was foiled, as will be remembered, by 
one of the ablest men Mexico has yet produced. He was 
appointed afterwards to a separate command in the 
Baxio, a rare honor for a Creole. In this command he 
sullied his high reputation by wanton cruelty ; writing 
to the viceroy after a battle he had won at Salvatierra, 
he says: ««In honor of the day (Good Friday) I 
have just ordered three hundred excommunicados to 
be shot!" Iturbide's friends deny the authenticity of 
this letter, but the original is said to be in the archives 
of Mexico. He, however, shared this reproach 
with almost all who were engaged in that war. 
He was afterwards recalled for rapacity and extor- 
tion, to Mexico, where he remained from 1816 to 
1820, when Apodaca again employed him as the fittest 
agent to overthrow the remnant of the constitution, and 
sent him to the western coast, at the head of a body of 
men, with the assistance of whom he was to proclaim 
the restoration of the king's absolute authority. During 
his retirement, Iturbide had devoted himself to religious 
exercises, and extended his intercourse among the clergy, 
by whom he was highly esteemed, and through whose 
influence he regained much of the popularity he had 
destroyed by his cruelty. 

In the month of February, 1821, Iturbide left the 
city of Mexico to take the command of a large native 
force, ostensibly with a view to act against the insur- 
gents in the south, who, under Guerrero, were again 

4 



78 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

becoming formidable ; it is, however, supposed that he 
was really charged to keep in check the Spanish troops, 
who were principally collected in that quarter, whilst the 
viceroy should declare the re-establishment of the 
authority of the absolute sovereign at the capital. 

Thus far, we have stated what appear to have been 
the facts ; the remainder of Iturbide's proceedings are 
well known. On the 24th of February, 1821, he 
assembled the chief officers of his army at Iguala, and 
presented them a set of propositions for the institution 
of a national government in Mexico, which are termed 
in the history of that country, Tlie Plan of Iguala. The 
amount of these propositions was : 

1. That Mexico should form an independent empire, 
the crown of which should be offered to the king of 
Spain, and, in the event of his refusal, to the other 
princes of his family in succession, on condition that the 
person accepting should reside in the country, and 
should swear to observe a constitution to be fixed by a 
congress ; 

2. That the Roman Catholic religion should be sup- 
ported, and the rights, immunities, and property of its 
clergy should be preserved and secured ; 

3. That all the actual inhabitants of Mexico, whrit- 
ever might be their birth-place or descent, should enjoy 
the same civil rights. 

These three propositions were termed The three 
Guarantees, and an army was to be raised for their 
establishment and defence. This plan is generally sup- 
posed to have been drawn up by the heads of the reli- 
gious congregation of the Profesa in Mexico, under the 
direction of the bishop of Puebla, who was one of the 
most attached friends of Iturbide ; the latter, however, 
always insisted that he himself had been the sole deviser 



DON AUGUSTIN ITURBIDE. 79 

of it, although he admits that it was shown to and ap- 
proved by the other persons mentioned. 

The proposed arrangements having been agreed to 
by the officers, were, on the 2d of March following, sub- 
mitted to the troops, who received them with enthusiasm, 
and immediately assumed the name and colors of the 
Army of the three Guarantees. Guerrero, soon after, 
added his forces to those of Iturbide, and they also re- 
ceived an important accession in the person of Guada- 
lupe Victoria, who had for the three years previous 
wandered in the forests of Vera Cruz without seeing or 
being seen by a human being. The news of the revo- 
lution spread rapidly throughout Mexico. At San Luis 
Potosi, Colonel Anastasio Bustamente, (afterwards presi- 
dent of the Mexican republic), with his whole regiment, 
declared in favor of the plan of Iguala ; the province of 
Vera Cruz was in insurrection, and the city was be- 
sieged by Don Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, then a 
young officer ; Puebla, Guanaxuato, Queretaro, Duran- 
go, Valladolid, and all the principal places except the 
capital, were soon in quiet possession of the indepen- 
dents. The Mexicans, indeed, scrupled a little at first 
at the idea of receiving a Bourbon prince ; but they soon 
became assured, that there was but little prospect of the 
execution of that part of the plan. 

The viceroy, it is believed, was at first inclined to 
accede to the plan of Iguala ; certain it is, that he took 
no very decided measures to oppose it, and he was on 
account of his apathy or apparent acquiescence deposed 
on the 6th of July, by the Spanish troops at the capital, 
who then placed General Novella at the head of the 
government. Ere the opposing parties could be brought 
in presence of each other. General O'Donoju, an old 
and highly respected officer, arrived at Vera Cruz from 



80 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

Spain, with the commission of captain-general of Mexi- 
co ; and seeing at once that all efforts to arrest the revo- 
lution by means of the Spanish forces in Mexico would 
be unavailing, he proposed to treat with Iturbide. This 
proposition was accepted, and the two generals met at 
Cordova, about sixty miles from Vera Cruz, on the 24th 
of August. The result of their conference was a treaty 
signed on the day of their meeting, by which the captain 
general recognised the independence of the Mexican 
empire upon the basis contained in the plan of Iguala : 
and it was agreed, that two commissioners should in- 
stantly be sent to Spain, to communicate it to the 
government of that country, and to offer the crown of 
Mexico as therein arranged. It was also agreed, that a 
junta should instantly be appointed, which should select 
persons to form a regency for the administration of the 
affairs of the empire, until the arrival of the sovereign, 
and that a cortes should be convened for the purpose 
of forming a constitution ; moreover, that the army of the 
three guarantees should occupy the capital and strong 
places, and that the Spanish troops should, as soon as 
possible, be sent out of the country. 

The independence of Mexico may be considered as 
commencing on the 24th of August, 1821, when this 
treaty of Cordova was signed by the highest legitimate 
Spanish authority in the country on the one hand, and 
on the other, by the person actually possessing the 
supreme power over it, by the will of the great majority 
of its inhabitants. Agreeably to its terms, the commis- 
sioners were immediately sent to Spain, the Spanish 
troops were withdrawn to places assigned for their recep- 
tion, and the army of the three guarantees entered the 
capital on the 27th of September. On that same day, 
the junta was formed, its members being all chosen by 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 81 

the general-in-chief ; this board immediately elected the 
bishop of Puebla as its president, drew up a manifesto 
to the nation which was issued on the 13th of October, 
summoned a cortes of the empire to meet in February 
following, and appointed a regency, the presidency of 
which was, of course, conferred upon Iturbide. This 
daring man was, at the same time, made generalissimo 
of all the forces, and invested with almost regal powers 
and dignities, for the support of which he was to receive 
one hundred and twenty thousand dollars per annum. 
O'Donoju could not survive the mortification of being 
obliged to countenance these proceedings, by which his 
country was robbed of its most valuable possessions, 
and on the 8th of October he died in the city of Mexico. 

Iturbide now employed himself diligently, in pre- 
paring the Mexicans for receiving him as the chief of 
the nation. With this view, he did all in his power to 
ingratiate himself with the aristocracy, the clergy, and 
the army, sedulously separating himself from those by 
whom the war of independence had been maintained. 
His plans for the organization of the congress, w^ere 
how^ever, not accepted by the junta ; instead of two 
houses, but one was allowed, composed of deputies 
elected by the people ; it was, however, arranged, that 
those provinces which sent more than four members, 
should choose one ecclesiastic, one military man, and 
one lawyer. 

The Mexican cortes or congress, thus constituted, 
met at the capital on the 24th of February, 1822 ; and 
ere they began their operations, an oath was taken by 
each member, separately, to support the provisions of the 
plan of Iguala. Notwithstanding this oath, however, 
they were soon divided into three parties ; the Repuhli- 
cans, anxious to adopt a system similar to that of the 
6 



82 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

United States ; the Bourbonists, in favor of the exact 
execution of the plan of Iguala ; and the Iturbidists, who 
wished their idol to be elevated at once to the throne. 
The Republicans and the Bourbonists united against 
the third party, and the discussions became violent. 

While these things were going on in Mexico, the 
Spanish cortes had, among other serious matters, been 
deliberating on the measures which should be adopted 
with regard to America, and various plans of pacifica- 
tion were proposed. At length arrived the news of the 
insurrectionary movement at Iguala, and afterwards, the 
commissioners who were empowered to offer the crown 
of the Mexican empire to the king and the other mem- 
bers of the royal family. How these propositions were 
likely to be received by the cortes, may be easily 
imagined ; the convention of Cordova between Iturbide 
and O'Donoju was declared void, and orders were sent 
to the representatives of Spain, in other countries, to 
protest against any recognition of the independence of 
Mexico. It was also resolved, that eflfbrts should be 
made for the preservation or recovery of the American 
possessions, by reinforcing the Spanish troops in those 
countries ; this resolution could, however, only be 
regarded as an energetic expression of opinion on the 
part of the cortes, as not a man nor a dollar could then 
have been spared from the kingdom, torn by internal 
disturbances, and threatened by foreign enemies. 

These determinations of the cortes, taken on the 12th 
of February, 1822, were made known in Mexico in 
April following, where they excited considerable sensa- 
tion. In anticipation of such replies to the propositions 
made agreeably to the plan of Iguala, Iturbide had 
been employing every means in his power, to create a 
strong feeling in his favor among the people, as well as 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 83 

in the army. The congress, however, were in general 
opposed to him, and many of its members wished to retire, 
in order to avoid the scenes which they saw must follow. 
The crisis at length took place on the 18th of May, 
when the army and the people of the capital proclaimed 
Iturbide emperor of Mexico, and the remaining deputies 
of the congress sanctioned the choice by a decree. On 
the following day, the regency resigned its powers, the 
new emperor took the oath to support the independence, 
religion, and constitution of Mexico, and -was installed 
in the ancient palace of the viceroys, under the title of 
Augustin the First. 

It may be supposed, that this choice was not hailed 
with universal satisfaction, and that the old chiefs of the 
insurgents, who had for so many years been submitting to 
dangers and miseries, could scarcely by pleased to see one 
of their most bitter persecutors raised to supreme power 
over them in a moment. Accordingly, Guerrero, Bravo, 
and Guadalupe Victoria, soon prepared to betake them- 
selves to their old haunts, and to reassemble their fol- 
lowers in opposition to the new sovereign; and even 
Santa Anna, the most ardent partisan of the imperial 
cause, showed signs of discontent. The congress, too, 
was loud in its complaints against the extravagance and 
the despotism of its master ; who, having endeavored 
in vain to quiet this body, by imprisoning some of its 
members, at length, on the 30th of October, closed its 
doors, and replaced it by a constituent junta, composed 
of forty-five persons of his own selection. 

The constituent junta, established by Iturbide, did 
nothing to satisfy the people ; and an insurrection broke 
out in the northern provinces, headed by a man named 
Garza. This was soon put down by the forces of the 
government ; Iturbide w-as not, however, equally sue- 



84 ]VIEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

cessful with regard to the second attack made upon his 
authority. He had conceived suspicions of Santa 
Anna's fidelity, which induced him to withdraw that 
officer from his command, and he ordered him to appear 
at the capital. Santa Anna learned the news of his 
removal at Jalapa, a city on the road between Mexico 
and Vera Cruz ; and without losing a moment, he set 
off for the latter place, which he reached before the 
arrival of the emperor's orders. Assembling the garrison, 
he harangued them upon the subject of the injustice and 
despotism of the existing government, and called upon 
them to aid him in overthrowing it ; they received his pro- 
position wdth joy, and immediately joined him in pro- 
claiming a republic. Santa Anna having then reduced to 
submission the neighboring towns, marched against 
Jalapa ; from this place, however, he was repulsed by 
Echavarri, the captain-general of the province, and forced 
to take refuge for a time in a mountain, overlooking the 
celebrated royal bridge, thirty miles from Vera Cruz. 
Here he was joined by Guadalupe Victoria, on whose 
appearance many flocked to the standard of the insur- 
gents ; their success nevertheless remained a matter of 
doubt, until Echavarri took part wdth them, and a new 
plan was formed gn the 2d of February, 1823, called 
the Act of Casas Matas, by which that of Iguala was 
entirely superseded. 

The Act of Casas Matas, guarantying a republican 
form of government, was universally adopted, and Itur- 
bide, finding himself deserted by all parties, abdicated 
the throne on the 19th of March, just ten months after 
he had first ascended it. He w^as escorted to the coast 
near Vera Cruz, and on the 11th of May embarked with 
his family for Leghorn. No one can suspect Iturbide of 
cowardice, and what prompted him to abdicate is a mys- 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 85 

tery which, perhaps, can best be solved by his own 
statement : 



The epoch in which I have lived has been a critical 
one ; equally critical is the moment at which I am about 
to submit to the world a sketch of my political career. 
The public are not uninformed of my name, or of my 
actions ; but they have known both through a medium 
greatly discolored by the interests of those persons who 
have transmitted them to distant countries. There is 
one great nation particularly, in w^hich several individ- 
uals have disapproved of my conduct, and have misrepre- 
sented my character. It becomes my duty, therefore, 
to relate my own history. I shall teU with the frank- 
ness of ,a soldier, both what I have been and what I am. 
My actions and their motives may thus be fairly judged 
by every impartial person of the present age, still more 
by posterity. I know no other passion or interest save 
that of transmitting to my children a name which they 
need not be ashamed to bear. 

It would be an idle waste of time to set about refu- 
ting the various, attacks which have been circulated 
against me ; they are framed in terms calculated only to 
reflect dishonor upon their authors. % 

It was my good fortune to break the chains which 
enthralled my country : I proclaimed her independence : 
I yielded to the voice of a grateful and a generous 
people, and allowed myself to be seated on a throne 
which I had created, and had destined for others; I 
repressed the spirit of intrigue and disorder. These are 
my crimes ; notwithstanding which I now appear, and 
shall continue to appear, with as sincere a countenance 
before the Spaniards and their king, as I have worn 
before the Mexicans and their new rulers. To both 



bb MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

countries I have rendered important services, though 
neither knew how to profit by the advantages which I 
acquired for them. 

In the year 1810, I was simply a subaltern officer ; a 
lieutenant in the provincial regiment of Valladolid, my 
native city. It is well known, that the individuals who 
serve in those troops receive no pay. The military pro- 
fession was not the principal object of my pursuit. I 
possessed an independence, and attended to the im- 
provement of my property, without disturbing my mind 
with the desire of obtaining public employments. I did 
not stand in need of them, either for the purpose of 
affording me a subsistence, or of adding distinction to 
my name, as it pleased Providence to give me an hon- 
orable origin, which my forefathers have never stained, 
and which down to my time all my kinsmen have sup- 
ported by their conduct. 

When the revolution^ set on foot by Don Miguel 
Hidalgo, curate of Dolores, broke out, he offered me 
the rank of lieutenant-general. The offer was one that 
might have tempted any young man without experience, 
and at an age when his ambition might be excited. I 
declined it, however, because I was satisfied that the 
plans of the curate were ill contrived, and that they 
would produce only disorder, massacre, and devastation, 
without accomplishing the object which he had in view. 
The result demonstrated the truth of my predictions. 
Hidalgo, and those who followed his example, desolated 
the country, destroyed private property, deepened the 
hatred between the Americans and Europeans, sacrificed 
thousands of victims, obstructed the fountains of public 
wealth, disorganized the army, anniliilated industry, 
rendered the condition of the Americans worse than it 
was before, by exciting the Spaniards to a sense of the 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 87 

<langers which threatened them; they moreover cor- 
rupted the manners of the people, and far from obtain- 
ing independence, increased the obstacles which were 
opposed to it. 

If, therefore, I took up arms at that epoch, it was 
not to make war against the Americans, but against a 
lawless band who harassed the country. The Mexican 
congress, at a later period, proposed that statues should 
be erected to the leaders of that insurrection, and that 
funeral honors should be paid to the ashes of those 
who perished in it. I have warred with those chiefs, 
and I should war with them again under similar cir- 
cumstances. The word insurrection in that instance 
did not mean independence and equal liberty ; its 
object was, not to reclaim the rights of the nation, 
but to exterminate all the Europeans, to destroy their 
possessions, and to trample on the laws of war, human- 
ity, and religion. The belligerent parties gave no quar- 
ter : disorder presided over the operations on both 
sides, though it must be acknowledged, that one party 
are censurable, not only for the evils which they caused, 
but also for having provoked the other party to retaliate 
the atrocities which were perpetrated by their enemies. 

About the month of October, in the year 1810, 1 was 
offered a safe conduct for my father and family, together 
with assurances that his property and mine should be 
exempted from conflagration and plunder, and that the 
people attached to them should not be subject to assas- 
sination (which was at that time a matter of ordinary 
occurrence), on the sole condition that I should quit the 
standard of the king and remain neutral. These propo- 
sitions were made to me by the leaders of that disas- 
trous insurrection, and are well known to the Mexicans. 
I w^as then at San Felipe del Obraje, commanding a 



8S MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

small detachment of infantry, and at a distance of foui 
leagues from me was Hidalgo with a considerable force. 
I gave the same answers to these overtures, as to the 
propositions already mentioned. I always looked upon 
that man as criminal, w^ho, in a season of political con- 
vulsions, sheltering himself in cowardly indolence, 
remained a cold spectator of the evils which oppressed 
his country, and made no effort to mitigate, at least, ii 
he could not remove, the sufferings of his fellow-citizens. 
I therefore kept the field, with a view equally to serve 
the king, the Spaniards, and the Mexicans. 

I was in consequence engaged in several expeditions, 
and had the good fortune to see victory never desert the 
troops under my command, except on one inconsidera- 
ble occasion (in 1815), when I made an attack on Co- 
poro, a military point which was w^ell fortified, and 
inaccessible from the nature of the ground. I then 
served under the orders of Llanos, a Spanish general. 
He commanded me to attack the place ; delicacy forbade 
me to offer any opposition to his mandate, though I was 
fully convinced that the result could not be favorable. 
As soon as I was on the march, I communicated my 
opinion to the general by despatch : I retreated, as I had 
foreseen I should do, but I had the good fortune to pre- 
serve four-fifths of my force, in an action in which I 
apprehended that I should have lost the whole. 

I engaged with the enemy as often as he offered 
battle, or as I came near him, frequently with inferior 
numbers on my part. I led the sieges of several forti- 
fied places, from which I dislodged the enemy, and I 
rendered them incapable of serving afterwards as asylums 
for the discontented. I had no other opponents than 
those of the cause which I defended, nor any other rivals 
than those who were envious of my success. 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 89 

In 1816 the provinces of Guanajuato and Valladolid, 
and the army of the north were under my command ; 
but I resigned my office through a sense of dehcacy, 
and retired to pursue my natural disposition, in the cul- 
tivation of my estates. The reason of my resignation 
was this : two inhabitants of Queretaro, who were sub- 
sequently assisted by four or five families in Guanajuato, 
three of which consisted of the families of three brothers, 
and ought therefore to be considered as one, sent a me- 
morial against me to the viceroy. Many were the 
crimes of which they accused me ; they could not, how- 
ever, find one witness to support their charges, though 
I had resigned for the purpose of removing every obsta- 
cle to their coming forward, by taking away the motives 
of hope on the one side, or of fear on the other. The 
families of the countess dowager of Rul, and of Ala- 
-man, gave proof, by abandoning the accusation, that 
they had been taken by surprise, and that they had been 
deceived. The viceroys, Calleja and Apodaca, took 
cognizance of the matter, and after hearing the reports 
of the Ayuntamientos, the curates, the political chiefs, 
the commandants and military chiefs, and of all the most 
respectable persons in the two provinces, and the army 
(who not only made my cause their own, but gave me 
tokens of their unqualified approbation), they affirmed 
the dictamen of their auditor, and of the two civil minis- 
ters, declaring that the accusation was false and calum- 
nious in all its parts, that I had permission to institute 
an action of damages against the slanderers, and that I 
might return to discharge the functions of the office 
which I had resigned. I did not choose to resume the 
command, nor to exercise my right of action, and I gave 
up the pay which I enjoyed. 

The ingratitude which I experienced from men had 



90 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

wounded my feelings deeply ; their insincerity, to call 
it by no severer name, made me shun every opportunity 
of again becoming the object of their attacks. Besides, 
the anger of the contending parties having expended 
itself, and the country having returned to a state of 
comparative tranquillity, I was relieved from that sense 
of obligation which six years before had compelled me 
to have recourse to arms. My country no longer stood 
in need of my services, and without betraying my duty, 
I thought that I might now rest from the toils of the 
camp. 

In 1820 the constitution was re-established in Spain 
The new order of things, the ferment in which the 
Peninsula was placed, the machinations of the discon- 
tented, the want of moderation amongst the supporters 
of the new system, the vacillation of the authorities, 
and the conduct of the government and cortes at 
Madrid (who, from the decrees which they issued, and 
the speeches which some of the deputies pronounced, 
appeared to have determined on alienating the colonies), 
filled the heart of every good patriot with the desire of 
independence, and excited amongst the Spaniards 
established in the country, the apprehension that all the 
horrors of the former insurrection were about to be 
repeated. Those who exercised the chief authority, and 
had the forces at their command, took such precautions 
as fear naturally dictated ; and those persons who at the 
former epoch had lived by disorder, made preparations 
for again turning it to advantage. In such a state 
of things the richest and most beautiful part of Amer- 
ica was about to become again the prey of con- 
tending factions. In every quarter clandestine meet- 
ings took place, for the purpose of discussing the 
form of government which ought to be adopted. 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 91 

Among the Europeans, and their adherents, some 
wished for the establishment of the Spanish constitu- 
tion. TJiey succeeded in realizing their views to a 
certain extent, but the system was badly understood, 
and the loose manner in which it was obeyed, indicated 
the shortness of its duration. There were some who 
conceived that it ought to undergo modifications, inas- 
much as the constitution framed by the cortes at Cadiz 
was inapplicable to " New Spain." Others there were 
who sighed after the old absolute government, as the 
best support of their lucrative employments, w^hich they 
exercised in a despotic manner, and by which they had 
gained a monopoly. The privileged and powerful 
classes fomented these different parties, attaching them- 
selves to the one or the other, according to the extent 
of their political information, or the projects of aggran- 
dizement which their imaginations presented. The 
Americans wished for independence, but they were not 
agreed as to the mode of effecting it, still less as to the 
form of government which they should prefer. With 
respect to the former object, many w^ere of opinion that 
in the first place, all the Europeans should be extermi- 
nated, and their property given up to confiscation. The 
less sanguinary would have been contented with banish- 
ing them from the country, thus reducing thousands of 
families to a state of orphanage. The moderate party 
suggested only that they should be excluded from all 
public offices, and degraded to the condition in which 
they had kept the natives of the country for three cen- 
turies. As to the form of government, one party 
proposed a monarchy, tempered by the Spanish, or 
some other constitution ; a second party wished for a 
federative republic ; a third for a central republic ; and 
the partisans of each system, full of enthusiasm, were 



92 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

impatient for the accomplishment of their differenl 
objects. 

I had friends in the principal towns, many of whom 
had been long connected with my family ; others I had 
known in my expeditions, and during the period when 
I held my command. The army, I had reason to 
believe, was strongly attached to me. All those who 
knew me did their utmost to supply me with information. 
I had visited the best provinces, obtained accurate infor- 
mation as to the nature of the country and the character 
of the inhabitants, the points capable of being fortified, 
and the resources upon which dependence might be 
placed. I saw new revolutions on the eve of breaking 
out ; my country was about to be drenched in blood ; I 
was led to believe that I had the power to save her, and 
I did not hesitate to undertake so sacred a duty. 

I formed my plan, known under the title of "the 
plan of Iguala." A pamphlet, which I have seen, has 
asserted that that project was the work of a club of ser- 
viles, who held their meeting at the profesa, a building 
belonging to the congregation of St. Philip, in Mexico. 
Any person who reads the document must be convinced, 
from its contents alone, that it could not have been dic- 
tated by servilism ; I put out of the question the opinions 
of those persons to whom it is attributed, and shall only 
say that they are matters upon which the multitude is 
very commonly mistaken. For me, I look upon those 
persons as men eminently respectable for their virtues 
and their knowledge. After the plan had been drawn 
out, I consulted upon it with distinguished individuals 
of different parties ; not one of them disapproved of it ; 
it was not modified in any manner; nothing was added 
or erased. 

In tracing out this project, my aim was to give inde- 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 93 

pendence to my country, because such was the general 
desire of the Americans ; a desire founded on natural 
feelings, and on principles of justice. It was, besides, 
the only means by which the interests of the two nations 
could be secured. The Spaniards would not allow 
themselves to be convinced that their decline began with 
their acquisition of the colonies, while the colonists were 
fully persuaded that the time of their emancipation had 
arrived. 

The plan of Iguala guarantied the religion which we 
inherited from our ancestors. To the reigning family 
of Spain, it held out the only prospect which survived 
for preserving those extensive and fertile provinces. 
To the Mexicans, it granted the right of enacting their 
own laws, and of having their government estabhshed 
within their own territory. To the Spaniards, it offered 
an asylum, which, if they had possessed any foresight, 
they would not have despised. It secured the rights of 
equality, of property, and of liberty, the knowledge of 
which is within the reach of every one, and the posses- 
sion of which, when once acquired, every man would 
exert all his power to preserve. The plan of Iguala 
extinguished the odious distinction of castes, offered to 
every stranger safety, convenience, and hospitality ; it 
left the road to advancement open to merit ; conciliated 
the good opinion of every reasonable man ; and opposed 
an impenetrable barrier to the machinations of the dis- 
contented. 

The operation of putting the plan into execution was 
crowned with the happy result which I had anticipated. 
Six months w^ere sufficient to untwist the entangled 
knot which had bound the two worlds. Without blood- 
shed, without fire, robbery, devastation, without a tear, 
my country was free, and transformed from a colony 



94 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

into an empire. In order to render the work conforma- 
ble to received customs, only one additional circum- 
stance was required — a treaty, which the diplomatists 
would add to the long catalogue of those which they 
"already possess, and which commonly turn out to be 
only so many proofs of the bad faith of men, as they 
are not seldom violated when it is the interest of one of 
the parties, and he happens to be the strongest. Never- 
theless, it is right to follow the laws of custom. On the 
24th of August, I had an interview with that most wor- 
thy Spanish general, Don Juan de O Donoju ; and on 
the same day was concluded between us a treaty, which 
bears the name of the place where it was signed, and 
was sent off to his majesty, Ferdinand VII., by an offi- 
cer of O Donoju's suit. 

The treaty of Cordova opened to me the gates of the 
capital, which otherwise I could have forced. But it is 
always delightful to me to be spared the necessity of 
exposing my men, and of shedding the blood of those 
w*ho had been my companions in arms. 

There were persons who raised questions on the treaty 
of Cordova, by doubting my authority, as well as that 
of Donoju, to enter into a compact upon a matter of 
so much delicacy. It would be easy to answer them, 
by saying that in me was deposited the will of the Mexi- 
can people at that period; in the first place, because 
that which I signed in their name was conformable to 
what they must have desired ; and secondly, because 
they had already given proofs of their sentiments ; such 
as were able to bear arms, by joining me, and others by 
assisting me in every way which lay in their power. In 
every place through which I passed, I was received in 
the most enthusiastic manner. Seeing that no one was 
forced to exhibit these demonstrations, it is to be inferred 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 95 

that they approved of my intentions, and that their ideas 
accorded with mine. With respect to General 
Donoju, he was the principal authority furnished with 
credentials from his government, and even though he 
might not have received specific instructions for that 
particular case, the circumstances authorized him to do 
the best he could for his country. 

Had this general commanded an army superior to 
mine, and possessed resources sufficient to enable him to 
carry on war against me, he might have properly refused 
to sign the treaty of Cordova, without first communicat- 
ing with his government, and receiving its answer. But 
attended as he was with scarcely a dozen officers, the 
whole country being in my power, his mission being 
adverse to the sentiments of the people, unable to 
procure intelligence of the state of things, without any 
knowledge of the localities, shut up in a weak fortress, 
which was exposed to our fire, with an army in front of 
him, and the few troops of the king who had remained 
in Mexico, commanded by an intrusive chief,' under 
such circumstances, let those persons who disapprove 
of the conduct of O Donoju say what they would have 
done if they had been in his place, or w^hat they imagine 
he ought to have done? He must have signed the 
treaty of Cordova, or have become my prisoner, or 
have returned to Spain ! he had no other alternative. 
If he had chosen either of the latter, all his country- 
men would have been compromised, and the govern- 
ment of Spain would have lost every hope of those 
advantages which it then obtained ; advantages which it 
never would have acquired, if I had not been in the 
command, and if O Donoju had not been an able 
politician as well as a faithful Spaniard. 

I entered Mexico on the 27th of September, 1821 ; 



96 MEXICO %AND HER MILITARY CmEFTAINS. 

on the same day was installed the junta of government 
which is spoken of in the plan of Iguala, and the treaty 
Cordova. It was nominated by me, but not according 
to my arbitrary choice ; for I wished to assemble together 
such men of every party, as enjoyed the highest reputa- 
tion amongst their friends. This was the only means 
which could be resorted to in such extraordinary cir- 
cumstances for consulting the public opinion. 

Up to this point my measures gained general appro- 
bation, and in no instance were my hopes deceived. But 
as soon as the junta began to exercise its functions, it 
perverted the powers which had been granted to it ; and 
within a few days after its installation, I saw what was 
likely to be the issue. From that moment I shuddered 
for the fate that awaited my fellow-citizens. It was in 
my power to resume the whole authority, and I asked 
myself, ought I not to resume it, if such a step be essen- 
tial to the safety of my country ? I considered, how- 
ever, that it would have been rash in me to resolve 
on undertaking such an enterprise, relying solely on my 
own judgment. If I were to consult with others, my 
design might transpire, and intentions, which had 
sprung solely from my love for my country, and from a 
desire to promote its happiness, might be attributed to 
ambitious views, and construed into a violation of my 
promise. Besides, even if I were to accomplish every- 
thing which I proposed, I could not have done it with- 
out infringing on the plan of Iguala, which it was my 
great object to maintain, because I looked upon it as the 
segis of the public welfare. These were the true rea- 
sons which, together with others of less importance, 
restrained me from taking any decisive measures. They 
would have brought me into collision with the favorite 
feelings of the cultivated nations of the world, and have 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 97 

rendered me, for some time, an object of hatred to a 
set of men, who were infatuated by chimerical ideas, and 
who had never learned, or had soon forgotten, that the 
republic which was most jealous of its liberty, possessed 
also its dictators. I may add, that I have always 
endeavored to be consistent in my principles ; and as I 
had proposed to form a junta, I fulfilled my promise, 
and was reluctant to undo the work of my own hands. 

There were at this time some deputies in Mexico 
who set little value on the public happiness, when it is 
opposed to their private interest, and who had acquired 
reputation by some actions that appeared generous to 
those who were benefited by them without knowing the 
secret views by which they had been prompted. They 
were well acquainted with the mysteries of intrigue, ever 
ready to stoop to servility when they found it expedient, 
and to assume insolence when their star was in the 
ascendant. These men disliked me because I had 
hitherto been successful in my career, and they began 
to foment those parties which were afterwards known 
under the titles of Republicans and Bourbonists, and 
which, however they diflfered on other points, were 
united in their opposition to me. 

The republicans were hostile to me, because they 
well knew they could never bring me to contribute to the 
establishment of a government, which, whatever might 
be its attractions, did not suit the Mexicans. Nature 
produces nothing by sudden leaps; she operates by 
intermediate degrees. The moral world follows the laws 
of the physical. To think that we could emerge all at 
once from a state of debasement, such as that of slavery, 
and from a state of ignorance, such as had been inflicted 
upon us for three hundred years, during which we had 
neither books nor instructors, and the possession of 
7 



98 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

knowledge had been thought a sufficient cause for per- 
secution ; to think that we could gain information and 
refinement in a moment, as if by enchantment ; that we 
could acquire every virtue, forget prejudices, and give 
up false pretensions, was a vain expectation, and could 
only have entered into the visions of an enthusiast. 

The Bourbonists, on the other hand, washed for my 
fall, because as soon as the decision of the government 
of Madrid was made known, through its decree of the 
13th of February, which was subsequently transmitted 
by the minister for the colonies, and in which the con- 
duct of Donoju was formally disapproved, the treaty 
of Cordova became null and void, as to that part of it 
which invited the Bourbons to the crown of Mexico, and 
effective with respect to the nation's entering into the 
full enjoyment of its right to elect as sovereign the indi- 
vidual whom it would deem most worthy of that high 
office. The Bourbonists, therefore, no longer expecting 
that a Bourbon would reign in Mexico, thought only of 
our returning to our former state of dependence ; a 
retrogression which was impossible, considering the im- 
potence of the Spaniards, and the determination of the 
Americans. 

Hence I became the object of attack to both these 
parties, because as I had the public force at my command, 
and was the centre of general opinion, it was necessary 
to the preponderance of either party that I should cease 
to exist. 

The leaders of the factions spared no pains to gain 
proselytes ; and certainly they found many to adhere to 
them. Some who were the least experienced, suffered 
themselves to be easily led away; because they saw 
nothing more in the projects on foot than what was 
represented to tliem, and there is no design of which dif- 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 99 

ferent views may not be given ; some hoped that by the 
subversion of the government they might advance their 
own fortunes ; and others, the natural enemies of estab- 
lished order, in w^hatever system it prevails, were anxious 
only for a change. Among the latter, one might be 
named who values himself on his literary accomplish; 
ments, and has made himself conspicuous in the revolu- 
tion.* ' 

The first duty of the junta after its installation, w^as 
to frame the Convocatoria. or proclamation for the 
assemblage of a congress, which was to give a consti- 
tution to the monarchy. The junta took more time to 
perform Ihis duty than the urgency of the case permitted, 
and committed several errors in framing the convocato- 
ria. It was extremely defective, but with all its imper- 
fections it was accepted; I could do no more than 
perceive the evil, and lament it. The census of the 
provinces was not consulted ; hence, for instance, one 
deputy was appointed for a province containing a 
hundred thousand inhabitants, and four for a province 
scarcely peopled by half that number. Nor did it at all 
enter into the calculations of the junta, that the repre- 
sentatives ought to be in proportion to the civilization 
of the represented. Three or four individuals might be 
easily selected from among a hundred well-educated 
citizens, who might possess the qualifications necessary 
to constitute good deputies ; whilst among a thousand, 
who are without education, and are ignorant of the first 
rudiments, scarcely one man can be met with of suffi- 
cient ability to know w^hat is conducive to the public 
walfare — whose mind is sufficiently enlarged to take 



* The individual here referred to is probably Don Lucas 
Alaman. 



]00 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

accurate views of public affairs, or at least to save him 
from extravagant errors respecting them ; who has suf- 
ficient firmness of character to vote according to what 
he thinks best, and not to deviate from his opinion when 
once convinced of its truth ; and whose experience 
enables him to perceive the grievances which afflict his 
province, as well as the remedy which they require. 
For, although that remedy might not always be within 
his reach, such experience would enable him, on hearing 
others proposed, to form a sound judgment upon them. 
These defects were quite sufficient to extinguish every 
hope, that any benefits would be derived from the con- 
vocatoria of the junta. It had many other faults which 
I have not mentioned, as I do not mean to comment 
upon them. But there is one which I cannot pass over 
in silence, that of having the deputies nominated at the 
will, not of a district (partido), for that would be of a 
majority of the citizens, but of the Ayuntamientos of the 
principal towns. See the injury thus done to the coun- 
try people at large ! In the elections a vote was given 
by the junta, to the electors, chosen by the country 
people ; and a voice was also given to the individuals 
W'ho composed the Ayuntamiento of the principal town 
of each department. But in electing the Ayuntamientos, 
it w^as possible to get into them by a little management, 
as was in fact frequently done ; because the wish of 
aspiring to the functions of these bodies, was not so 
general as the ambition of obtaining a seat in congress. 
The Ayuntamientos were, therefore, filled up at their 
own pleasure, and were consequently vitiated ; and as 
all the members possessed a vote in the elections for 
deputies, the Ayuntamientos became almost the only 
electors. This is evident to any one who knows how 
thinly the population is distributed over that country, 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 101 

and how great a disproportion exists between the num- 
her of inhabitants in a town, and in its dependencies. 

To render this clearer, let it be supposed that a prin- 
cipal town of a province contains four, eight, or ten 
thousand inhabitants, leaving out of the question the city 
of Mexico, the population of which exceeds one hundred 
and seventy thousand souls, and other cities densely 
inhabited. The Ayuntamiento of such a town consists, 
perhaps, of fifty or sixty members; the departments 
which have to send electors to the principal town, name 
no more than eight or ten. This small number, there- 
fore, acting in conjunction with all the members of the 
Ayuntamiento, is reduced to a cipher, and the election 
terminates according to the pleasure of that body. 
Thus the people were deceived by being told, that in 
them resided the sovereignty, which they were to dele- 
gate to the deputies whom they were about to name ; 
when in fact there w^as no such nomination, except on 
the part of the Ayuntamiento, or rather, indeed, of the 
directors of the junta, who, after the dissolution of that 
body, passed into the congress, in order to continue 
their manoeuvres. 

To this system, so framed, was added intrigue in the 
elections ; the most worthy men were not sought for, 
nor even those who were decided for any particular 
party. It was quite sufficient if the candidate were my 
enemy, or so ignorant that he might easily be persuaded 
to become so. If he possessed either of these re- 
quisites, he was deemed competent to discharge the 
sacred functions which were to be intrusted to him. 

If the archives of state have not been spoliated, 

remonstrances may be found amongst them from almost 

all the provinces, pointing out the nullity of the powers 

conferred on the deputies. Several individuals were 

5 



102 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

elected who had been accused of conduct notoriously 
scandalous; some had been prosecuted as criminals: 
others were men of broken fortunes, tumultuous dema- 
gogues, officers who had capitulated, and who, violat- 
ing the laws of w^ar and their paroles, had again taken 
up arms against the cause of liberty, and after suffering 
defeat had surrendered a second time. Some of the 
new deputies were obstinate anti-independents, and one 
was an apostate monk, although by law no member of 
the religious orders could have a seat in congress. The 
authors of the remonstrances offered also to prove, that 
the rules for the conduct of the elections, as they were 
laid dow^n in the convocatoria, had been infringed ; and 
that the persons returned were not those whom the 
majority approved, but those w-ho were the most skilful 
in intrigue. These documents were all sent to my 
department, when I was generalissimo and admiral-in- 
chief; when I became emperor, I directed them to be 
transmitted to the department of the interior, for the 
purpose of being deposited in the archives. I did not 
wish to lay them before the congress, because even if 
justice were done, which could hardly be expected, I 
saw that they would be productive only of odium, and 
of legal prosecutions. I considered that time would Le 
lost in new elections, as it would be necessary to have 
the most of them renewed, and I felt that our most im- 
portant care was first to organize the government. 
Besides, I thought that the errors into which this con- 
gress might fall, might be corrected by that which 
should succeed it. This mode of reasoning, which 
would have been questionable perhaps under any other 
circumstances, was suitable to those which then existed, 
because the object was to avoid greater evils. 

The result of the elections, therefore, was the forma- 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBLDE. 103 

tion of a congress, perfectly comfortable to the 
wishes of the party who mfluenced its nomination. 
A few men of undoubted virtue and wisdom, and 
of the purest patriotism, whose fair reputation was so 
widely extended that no machinations could prevent 
them from having a majority of suffrages, found them- 
selves confounded with a multitude of intriguers, of 
assuming manners and sinister intentions. I do not 
desire to be credited on my mere assertions ; examine the 
acts of the congress during the eight months that elapsed 
from its installation until its suspension. The prin- 
cipal object of its assembling was to draw up a constitu- 
tion for the empire : not a single line of it was written. 
In a country, naturally the richest in the world, the 
treasury was exhausted ; there were no funds to pay the 
army or the public functionaries ; there was no revenue, 
not even a system of finance established, as that which 
had existed in the time of the Spanish rule had been 
abolished, without any other system having been sub- 
stituted for it. The congress would not occupy itself 
in matters of such essential importance, notwithstanding 
the repeated and urgent solicitations which I made to it 
in person, and through the secretaries of state. The 
administration of justice was wholly neglected ; in the 
changes which had taken place some of the officers had 
left the empire, some died, others had embraced new 
avocations, and the offices and tribunals were nearly 
deserted. Upon this subject also the congress declined 
to take any steps : in short, although the empire was in 
the weakness of infancy, and wanted their assistance at 
every point, they did nothing. The speeches which 
were pronounced, turned on matters of the most trifling 
description, and if any of them happened to touch on 
topics deserving of consideration, they were, to say the 



104 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

least of them, foreign to the exigencies of the moment. 
What honors should be paid to the chiefs of the insur- 
rection who had fallen ? What should be the form for 
the oath of an archbishop ? Who ought to nominate 
the supreme tribunal of justice ? Such, together with a 
demand for an apostate friar who was a prisoner in the 
castle of San Juan de Ulua, and other similar subjects, 
formed the grave occupations of a body so august in 
its institution ! Add to this, that not a single regulation 
was made for the government of the interior. The 
, result was, that the congress became the opprobrium of 
the people, and fell into a state of abject contempt. 
The public prints exposed its defects, and even one of 
the deputies stated his opinion that it stood in need of 
reformation. 

It soon became manifest that the object of those who 
gave all its movements to that machine, was only to 
gain time, and to deceive each other until they found an 
opportunity, for the arrival of which they secretly 
labored, in order to throw off the mask. Notwithstand- 
ing the cunning which they used, and the dissimulation 
with which they endeavored to carry out their designs, 
the people and the army saw through their real views. 
Neither the army nor the people desired slavery on one 
nand, or republicanism on the other ; nor did they wish 
to see me deposed, or even in any manner offended, 
and from these feelings arose that distrust with which 
the whole nation received all the resolutions that origi- 
nated in so vitiated a body. 

About the month of April, 1822, a state of agitation 
was observable, w^hich threatened to end m anarchy. 
A public measure, effected in a scandalous manner, dis- 
covered the hypocrisy of its authors. The congress 
deposed 'jhree of the regents, leaving in office with me 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 105 

only one, who was well known to be my enemy, for the 
purpose of reducing my vote in the executive to a nul- 
lity. They did not attempt to depose me, from an 
apprehension that they would be resisted by the army 
and the people, of my influence with whom they were 
well aware. This resolution was passed in the most 
precipitate and singular manner. The question was pro- 
posed, discussed, agreed to, and carried into execution 
in one sitting, whereas it had been previously settled by 
decree that every proposition which was submitted to 
the congress, should be read three times, at three dis- 
tinct sittings, before it should be discussed. After this 
step they proposed another ; a commission, appointed 
for that purpose, presented a regulation concerning the 
regency, in which the command of the army was declared 
incompatible with the functions of the executive power. 
They were jealous of my having the soldiery at my dis- 
posal : to such men fear was very natural. This regu- 
lation, although it did not receive the sanction of the 
legislature on account of the want of time, left no doubt 
of the designs which were entertained against me, and 
was the immediate cause which accelerated the event of 
the 18th of May. At ten o'clock on that memorable 
night the people and garrison of Mexico proclaimed me 
emperor. " Live Agustin the Fu-st !" was the universal 
cry. Instantly, as if all were actuated by the same sen- 
timent, that extensive capital was illuminated; the 
balconies were decorated, and filled with the most 
respectable inhabitants, who joyously echoed back the 
acclamations of the immense crowds of people which 
thronged all the streets, especially those near the house 
where I resided. Not one citizen expressed any disap- 
probation, a decided proof of the weakness of my ene- 
mies, and of the universality of the public opinion in my 



106 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

favor. No accident or disorder of any kind occurred. 
The first impulse of ray mind was to go forth and declare 
my determination not to yield to the wishes of the 
people. If I restrained myself from appearing be- 
fore them for that purpose, it was solely in compli- 
ance with the counsel of a friend who happened at the 
moment to be with me. "They will consider it an 
insult," he had scarcely time to say to me, "and the 
people know no restraint when they are irritated. You 
must make this fresh sacrifice to the public good ; the 
country is in danger ; remain a moment longer undeci- 
ded, and you will hear their acclamations turned into 
death-shouts." I felt it necessary to resign myself to 
circumstances ; and I spent the whole of that night in 
allaying the general enthusiasm, and persuading the 
troops to give time for my decision, and in the mean- 
while to render oedience to the congress. I went out 
repeatedly to harangue them, and wrote a short procla- 
mation, which was circulated the following morning, 
and in which I expressed the same sentiments as those 
I addressed to the people. I convened the regency, 
assembled the generals and superior officers, communi- 
cated what had occurred by despatch to the president 
of the congress, and requested him to summon imme- 
diately an extraordinary sitting. The regency was of 
opinion that I ought to yield to public opinion; the 
superior officers of the army added that such also was 
their unanimous opinion, that it was expedient I should 
do so, and that I was not at liberty to act according to 
my own desires, as I had dedicated myself entirely to 
my country ; that their privations and sufferings would 
be useless if I persisted in my objections ; and that hav- 
ing compromised themselves through me, and having 
yielded me unqualified obedience, they had a claim to 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 107 

my compliance. They subsequently drew up a memo- 
rial which they presented to the congress, requesting it 
to take this important matter into its consideration. 
This paper was signed also by the individual who sub- 
sequently officiated as president of the act of Casa-Mata, 
and by one of the present members of the executive 
body. 

The congress met on the following morning; the 
people crowded to the galleries and the entrance to the 
chamber: their applauses were incessant; a joyous 
agitation was observable in every face ; the speeches of 
the deputies were interrupted by the impatience of the 
multitude. It is difficult to obtain order in moments like 
these ; but such an important discussion required it, and 
in order to attain that object, the congress required that 
I should be present at the sitting. A deputation was 
appointed, who communicated the invitation to me. I 
declined it, because as they were about to treat of me 
personally, my presence might be considered as a 
restraint on the freedom of debate, and an impediment 
to the clear and frank expression of each individual's 
opinion. The deputation and several general officers, 
however, prevailed on me to accept the invitation, and 
I immediately went out in order to proceed to the place 
where the congress was assembled. The streets were 
scarcely passable, so crowded were they with the inhabi- 
tants of the capital ; they took the horses from my 
carriage, and I was drawn by the people, and amidst 
their enthusiastic acclamations, to the palace of the con- 
gress. On entering the hall where the deputies were 
assembled, the vivas were still more enthusiastic, and 
resounded from every quarter. 

The question of the nomination was discussed, and 
there was not a single deputy who opposed my acces- 



108 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

sion to the throne. The only hesitation expressed by a 
few, arose from a consideration that their powers were 
not extensive enough to authorize them to decide on 
the question. It appeared to them that it would be 
necessary to notify the subject to provinces, and to 
require from them an enlargement of powers already 
granted, or new powers specifically applicable to this 
case alone. I supported this opinion, as it afforded me 
an opportunity of finding out some means for evading 
the acceptance of a situation which I was most anxious 
to decline. But the majority were of a contrar}^ 
opinion, and I was elected by seventy-seven voices 
against fifteen. These latter did not deny me their suf- 
frages ; they confined themselves simply to the expres- 
sion of their belief, that the provinces ought to be 
consulted, since they did not think their powers ample 
enough, but at the same time they said that they were 
persuaded that their constituents would agreed with the 
majority, and think that what was done was in every 
respect conducive to the public welfare. Mexico never 
witnessed a day of more unmixed satisfaction ; every 
order of the inhabitants testified it. I returned home as 
I had proceeded to the congress, my carriage drawn by 
the people, who crowded around to congratulate me, 
expressing the pleasure which they felt on seeing their 
wishes fulfilled. 

The intelligence of these events was transmitted to 
the provinces by express, and the answers which suc- 
cessively came from each of them, not only expressed 
approbation of what had been done, without the dis- 
sent of a single town, but added that it was precisely 
what they desired, and that they would have ex- 
pressed their wishes long before, if they had not con- 
sidered themselves precluded from doing so by the plan 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 109 

of Iguala and the treaty of Cordova, to which they had 
sworn. I received also the congratulations of an indi- 
vidual who commanded a regiment, and exercised great 
influence over a considerable part of the country. He 
told me that his satisfaction w^as so much the greater, as 
he was anxious to avoid making himself remarkable ; 
but, at the same time, that he had made arrangements 
for proclaiming me, in case it had not been done in 
Mexico. 

The authors of the libels which have been written 
against me, have not passed over the occurrences of the 
18th and 19th of May, amidst which they represent me 
as acting the part of an ambitious tyrant, attributing the 
proceedings which took place to secret management on 
my part, and the intrigues of my friends. I feel assured 
that they never can prove the truth of these assertions, 
and that they will receive no credit from those who 
know, that on my entry into Mexico, on the 27th of 
September, as well as on my swearing to our independ- 
ence, on the 27th of October, it was likewise generally 
wished that I should be proclaimed emperor. If I was 
not so proclaimed at that time, it w^as because I did not 
wish it, and it was with no small difficulty that I pre- 
vailed on those who were then raising the shout, to 
desist from their purpose. 

If, as has been imputed to me, I at that time con- 
ceived any intention of assuming the crown, I should 
not have declared the very reverse in the plan of Iguala, 
adding this difficulty to those with which the enterprise 
was already attended. Nay, if that plan had been 
framed for the purpose of deluding the country, as some 
persons have been pleased to assert, what reason was 
there for repeating the same clause in the treaty of Cor- 
dova, when I was under no necessity of dissembling ? 
5* 



110 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

If even up to that period I wished for some particular 
cause to conceal my design, what occasion could I have 
found more favorable to its accomplishment than the 
27th of September and the 27th of October, in that year ? 
The whole empire was then actually ruled by my voice ; 
there were no troops except those which were under my 
command ; I was generalissimo of the army ; the soldiers 
were all attached to me, and the people called me 
their liberator ; no enemy threatened me on any side, 
and there were no longer any Spanish troops in the 
country. The cabinet of Madrid had not an individual 
throughout all New Spain, to whom it could address its 
decrees ; the exertions of that court did not alarm me, 
as I was not ignorant of the extent to which they could 
reach. If I did not grasp the sceptre at a time when I 
not only could have been emperor, but had to vanquish 
a thousand difficulties in order to prevent being so, how 
can it be said that I obtained it afterwards only by 
intrigue and cabal ? 

It has been asserted also, that there was not sufficient 
freedom in the congress for my election, inasmuch as I 
was present while it was carried on. It has been 
already seen that I attended because the congress itself 
invited me. That the galleries did not allow the deputies 
to deliver their sentiments is untrue ; each member, who 
chose to rise, expressed his opinion without more than 
some few interruptions, which always happens where mat- 
ter of such importance is under deliberation, without the 
decrees so discussed, being therefore considered less 
binding than those which are passed at a secret sitting. 
It has been further alleged that some superior officers 
accompanied me on that occasion. The office which I 
then held, and the object for which I had been invited 
to attend, required that I should have around me those 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. Ill 

to whom I could communicate my orders in case of 
necessity. However vehemently they may assert that 
my retinue imposed restraint on the congress, the very 
persons who state this are convinced that it is not true. 
Four aides-de-camp and the commanding officer of my 
escort accompanied my suite ; besides these I saw six or 
eight captains and subalterns, who were first mingled 
with the crowd that thronged the entrance of the hall ; 
these did not go in with me, and were, therefore, no 
more than so many spectators, wishing to gratify their 
curiosity ; but neither the latter nor the former, neither 
the soldiers nor the people, said or did anything which 
could be construed to menace, or in any manner restrain 
the congress, even if it had been composed of the most 
timid characters, and had been electing the weakest of 
mankind. It is equally false that the hall had been 
filled with tlie people, and that the deputies were con- 
founded amongst them. Unfortunately this has been 
affirmed by the congress itself; thus proving that it was 
composed of men as changeable as they were weak, who 
were not ashamed to declare in the face, of the world, 
that they voted under the influence of fear against their 
conscientious opinions, on a question of the gravest im- 
portance which could be presented for their deliberation. 
What confidence can the provinces repose in them ? 
What duties can be confided to their care with the hope 
of an auspicious result ? What laws can be dictated by 
a legislature devoid of probity ? And what opinion can 
be formed of a body which has no firmness, and blushes 
not to proclaim its servility ? I should have considered 
as a libeller, any man who said that the congress had 
not acted from its own free will ; but as it has itself 
declared the same thing, and as I am not in a situation 
to give judgment on the matter, those who have heard 



112 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

both sides will decide according to what appears to 
them, and posterity, I doubt not, will form an opinion 
of that assembly little honorable to its reputation. 

It has been further alleged that the number of depu- 
ties present was not sufficient to give validity to the 
election. Ninety-four attended, one hundred and sixty- 
two was the total number for that portion of the empire 
which was previously called the viceroyalty of Mexico ; 
from the kingdom of Guatemala w^hich was subsequently 
added to it, deputies could not be received, because in 
some of the districts the elections were carried on con- 
formably to the Spanish constitution, and in others 
according to a particular convocatoria which they 
framed. An exception must also be made as to the 
deputies who were to have come for the provinces of 
San Salvador, who are included in the calculation of 
my adversaries, but who ought not to be enumerated, 
because that country had declared a government inde- 
pendent of Mexico. However, taking even the twenty- 
four deputies for Guatemala into account, the total 
number would be one hundred and eighty-two, the half 
of which is ninety-one. The sitting was attended by 
ninety-four deputies, although only ninety-two voted ; 
whence it follows that allowing all the restrictions which 
are demanded," there w^ere still the half and one more pre- 
sent, according to the rule of the Spanish constitution, 
which, it was agreed, should be observed upon this point ; 
although many decrees had the force of law, at the passing 
of which no more than seventy or eighty deputies had 
been present. And what will the supporters of the 
nullification say to the fact, that on the 22d of June, 
1822, without any desire on the part of the govern- 
inent, without any extraordinary assemblage of the 
people which might overawe the deputies, without being 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 113 

pressed for time in their deliberations, without my 
presence serving as an obstacle, without any agitation in 
the capital, and the whole garrison being in profound 
tranquillity, the congress of its own accord resolved, 
with the entire unanimity of one hundred and nine de- 
puties who were present, that the crown should be here- 
ditary in my family in lineal succession, giving the title 
of Prince of the Empire to my eldest son, whom they 
designated as the heir apparent, of Mexican Princes to 
the rest of my sons, Prince of the Union to my father, 
and Princess de Iturbide to my sister ? They also pre- 
scribed the regulations for my inauguration, and all this 
they did without its having been preceded, or attended, 
by any of those causes which compelled them, as they 
alleged, to join in the first acclamation. I mention this, 
not for the purpose of establishing rights, which I have 
renounced with the most perfect good will, but to an- 
swer the cavils which have been thrown out against 
me, and to show the bad faith with which I have been 
treated. 

In order to avoid murmurs, I did not, after my elec- 
tion, bestow those favors which are usually lavished on 
such occasions. It is not true that I distributed money, 
or that I gave away any appointments, except that of a 
captain to a sergeant, not for his having contributed to 
my elevation, but because he bore the best character in 
his regiment, and I wished to give the soldiers a proof 
of my attachment for them, by promoting an individual 
whom they considered worthy of a superior rank. 

I have already frequently said, and I cannot too often 
repeat it, that I accepted the crown only with the view to 
serve my country, and to save it from anarchy. I was 
vvell persuaded that my personal situation was anything 
but improved ; that I should be persecuted by envy ; that 



114 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

the measures which I could not avoid adopting, would 
dissatisfy many ; that it was impossible to please all ; 
that I was about to clash with a body which was full of 
ambition and pride, and which, at the very moment it 
was declaiming against despotism, labored to concen- 
trate Avithin its own circle all the power of the state, 
leaving the monarch reduced to a mere phantom, and 
assuming to itself not only the enactment, but the ad- 
ministration and execution of the laws ; a tyranny which 
is always more intolerable when in the hands of a 
numerous body, than when deposited in those of a sin- 
gle individual. The Mexicans would have been less 
free than the inhabitants of Algiers, if the congress had 
carried all its designs into effect. At one time or other 
they wuU be undeceived ; may it not be so late as that 
the difficulties which surround them shall be found in- 
superable ! I was well aware that I was about to become 
the slave of business ; that the duties which I undertook 
would not be looked upon with a favorable eye by all 
parties ; and that by a fate which some would consider 
fortunate, but which I would have alw^ays avoided if it 
were possible, I was about to abandon everything w^hich 
I had inherited and acquired, and with which my child- 
ren would have been enabled to live independently, 
wherever they chose. 

Upon my accession to the throne, it appeared as if 
all dissensions had subsided into repose. But the fire, 
though latent, continued to burn ; the different parties, 
though they dissembled for a short time, still carried on 
their machinations ; and the conduct of the congress 
became the scandal of the people. I repeatedly re- 
ceived information of clandestine meetings, which were 
held by several deputies, for the purpose of devising 
the subversion of the government — a government, be it 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE, 



115 



remembered, that was sworn to by the whole nation, 
which solemn act was performed in different provinces 
solely upon the intelligence being transmitted through 
private letters, without waiting for official^advices. The 
conspirators were fully aware that they were proceeding 
in direct contradiction to the general will ; and, in order 
to have a pretext for their treasons, they found it neces- 
sary to propagate a report that I was desirous of becom- 
ing an absolute monarch. Not a single reason did they 
ever allege in proof of such an accusation. Indeed, 
how could they bring any proof against one who twice 
refused to accept the crown that was offered him ; who, 
at a time when he knew no rival in the opinion of the 
people or army, not only did not seek to preserve the un- 
limited power which he had obtained, but dismembered 
and parted with it ? When I entered Mexico, my will 
was law ; I commanded the pubUc forces ; the tribunals 
possessed no attributes, save those which emanated from 
my authority. Could I be more absolute ? And who 
compelled me to divide my power? I, and I alone; 
because I considered it just. Then, at least, I did not 
wish to be absolute ; could I have desired it afterwards ? 
How can they reconcile my adoption of such opposite 
extremes ? 

The true cause of the conduct pursued by the con- 
gress is that this machine was set in motion by the 
impulse received from its directors ; and these persons 
saw with secret aversion, that I achieved the independ- 
ence of the country, without the assistance of any one 
of them ; whereas they desired that everything should 
be ascribed to themselves. Although they had not the 
resolution to act in the season of peril, they sought to 
render themselves conspicuous by deluding the multi- 
tude with schoolboy disputations, and by setting them- 



116 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

selves up as sages to whom the ignorant were to look 
up with reverential respect ! 

In the meantime, so many denunciations, complaints, 
and remonstrances, reached my hands, that I could not 
avoid attending to them, both because the public tran- 
quillity and safety were exposed to danger, and because 
documents of the same description were sent to me by 
the different departments of government; and if any 
misfortune occurred (and misfortunes of the most for- 
midable kind w^ere on the eve of happening), I should 
have been responsible to the nation and the world. 

I resolved, therefore, on proceeding against those 
who were implicated, as I w^as authorized to do by the 
attributes which I possessed ; if any person dispute their 
extent, he may see them defined in the 170th article of 
the Spanish constitution, which so far was in force. On 
the 26th of August, I ordered the apprehension of the 
deputies who were comprised in the denunciations, and 
charged with being conspirators. In order to see if that 
charge were founded on circumstances sufficient, in 
point of law, to sustain it, and w^hether I had reason to 
urge me to take a step which has been called violent and 
despotic, reference must be made to the report of the 
fiscal of the sumaria, which was approved in all its parts 
by the council of state. 

The congress demanded, in an imperious manner, 
that the deputies should be given up to them, and 
required to be informed of the causes of their detention, 
in order that they might be tried by the tribunal of 
cortes. I resisted giving them up until the sumaria 
was concluded, and until it was decided by what tribu- 
nal they were to be tried. I could not agree that they 
should be sent before the tribunal just mentioned, w^hich 
was composed of individuals of the congress, who were 



DON AUGtJSTINO ITURBIDE. 117 

suspected of being connected with the conspiracy. They 
were, besides, partial members of an assembly, the ma- 
jority of which was in bad repute ; and which, amongst 
other proofs of its bad faith, had treated with indifference 
the disclosures which I had made to it on the 3d of 
April, respecting the secret manoeuvres of some of their 
own body. 

The interval, until the 30th of October, was spent in 
mutual contention. At that period the discontent of the 
people increased, and they threatened to put an imme- 
diate end to their sufferings which had been so much 
abused; the public writers repeated their invectives 
against the congress with more vehemence than ever, 
and the provinces refused to contribute to the stipends 
of delegates, who did not discharge the duties intrusted 
to them. The national representation had already 
brought itself into contempt, by its apathy in all that 
related to the public welfare, by its activity in creating 
evils, by its insufferable insolence, and by its permitting 
some of its members to maintain in public sittings, that 
no respect was due to the plan of Iguala, or the treaty 
of Cordova, although they had sworn to observe both 
upon their admission into the sanctuary of the laws, and 
although those documents formed the basis given them 
by their constituents for the guidance of their conduct. 

They endeavored at that time merely to depreciate 
the plan of Iguala, because they could do no more, 
while I supported it as the expression of the will of the 
people. But since my abdication, they have not been 
content with speaking against it ; relying on a mere 
sophism they have annulled one of its fundamental prin- 
ciples, and under the pretence of doing away with the 
invitation given to the Bourbons, they have abolished 
the limited monarchy altogether. What connexion was 



118 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

there between one and the other ? On the 8th of April, 
1823, the congress passed a decree, in which they 
declared that tlie plan of Igaala, and the treaties of Cor- 
dova, ceased to have force, as to those parts which 
referred to the form of government, and the calling in 
of the Bourbons, and that the nation was fully at liberty 
to constitute itself. In fact, those documents had 
already ceased to have force as to that portion which 
the congress annulled, relating to the invitation given to 
the Bourbons; but they lost their effect thus far, not 
because such was the will of the people, when con- 
ferring their powers on the deputies, but because 
the government of Madrid did not choose to ratify the 
treaty signed by O Donoju, nor to accept the invita- 
tion which the Mexicans freely offered to that family. 
It was not competent to the congress to say that at no 
time did there exist any right to bind the Mexican 
nation by any law or treaty, except through the na- 
tion itself, or its representatives. For although the 
proposition, taken by itself, is true, it is false if it be 
taken with reference to the plan of Iguala and the treaty 
of Cordova ; first, because both were the expression of 
the general will of the Mexicans, as I have already said, 
and secondly, because the powers which were conferred 
on the deputies as well as their oath, were founded on 
the principles, and supported on the bases, of both 
these documents. They were instructed by their con- 
stituents to organize the government of the empire, as 
to its fundamental bases, conformably to the plan of 
Iguala, and the treaty of Cordova. If, therefore, these 
bases were not conformable to what the public right of 
every free nation requires, whence did the deputies 
derive their authority to create a congress, and whence 
could such a body have received its attributes of legis- 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDL. 119 

lation ? Numerous are the decrees of that assembly, 
which evince a similar absence of discernment. They 
might have very properly said that the invitation given 
to the Bourbons was null, because those princes de- 
clined to accept it. But to assert that, therefore, the 
plan of Iguala and the treaty of Cordova were null, in 
every part, is the extreme of absurdity. And it is the 
extreme of ignorance or of malice to add, that the 
legislative body could not be bound to adhere to the 
basis of that form of government, which was considered 
most expedient by those who gave to the congress its 
existence as a congress. If that assembly had known 
its duty, and had proceeded with honor and good faith, 
it would have respected the plan of Iguala as the source 
of its own authority, and the foundation of the edifice 
of the state. But it took an opposite course. 

For such an abuse of their authority as this, no palli- 
ation was sufficient, and no remedy could be found. 
Such a congress neither could nor ought to continue. 
This was not only my opinion, but that of every one 
whom I consulted on the subject, particularly of a meet- 
ing which I held publicly in my palace, and to which I 
summoned such persons as were most distinguished by 
the respectability of their character, the ministers, the 
council of state, the generals and other superior officers, 
and seventy-two deputies. 

On the 30th of October, I transmitted a despatch to 
the president of the congress through a superior officer, 
informing him that that body had ceased to exist, and 
without any other formality, without violence or further 
occurrence of any sort, the congress was closed at noon 
on that day. No person sympathized with them in 
their fall; on the contrary, I received congratulations 
from all quarters, and in consequence of this proceed- 



120 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS 

ing I was again called the " Liberator of Anahuac," 
and " the father of the people." 

In order that a body so respectable by its institution 
should not be entirely wanting to its duty, and lest it 
should be supposed that I arrogated to myself the 
power of making the laws, I formed the same day, an 
assembly which I called the "Instituent Junta," con- 
sisting of members of the congress, and selected from 
all the provinces. They amounted to forty-five in num- 
ber, exclusive of eight supplemental deputies. 

All of these had been elected by their respective 
provinces, and for all the provinces there w^ere represen- 
tatives. Their duty was confined to the formation of a 
new convocatoria, and they exercised the functions of 
the legislative power only in cases of urgent necessity. 
They understood that with respect to the convocatoria, 
they were to avoid those defects which the first junta of 
government had interwoven in it, and particularly to 
attend to the rights of the people to whom they were to 
leave the full measure of their liberty, and whom they 
were, at the same time, to protect as much as possible 
from the intrigues and cabals of those who would not 
hesitate to abuse their simplicity. 

Happily so far my measures were attended with 
general approbation, and I also received congratulations 
on the installation of the <' Instituent Junta." 

At this period the empire was tranquil, the govern- 
ment was actively engaged in consolidating the public 
prosperity, and our interior grievances were removed. 
It only remained for us to get possession of the castle 
of San Juan de Ulua, the sole point which was in the 
possession of the Spaniards, and which commanded 
Vera Cruz ; its garrisons were relieved by troops from 
the Havana, and on account of its proximity to the 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 121 

island of Cuba, it ofTered every possible advantage to 
an internal enemy. 

The Brigadier Santa Anna commanded the fortress of 
Vera Cruz, and was commandant-general of the pro- 
vince, under Echavarri, who was its captain-general. 
Both of these had instructions relative to the capture of 
the castle; some jealousies arose between them con- 
cerning their respective authority, which they carried to 
such an extreme, that the former attempted to have the 
latter assassinated during a sortie made by the Spaniards ; 
for which purpose he had so well concerted his mea- 
sures, that Echavarri, according to his own account, 
owed his life to the bravery of a dozen soldiers, and to 
a panic which seized those who attacked him. In con- 
sequence of this circumstance, added to the repeated 
complaints against Santa Anna, which I received from the 
former captain-general, from the provincial deputation, 
from the consulate, from a number of the inhabitants, 
from the lieutenant-colonel of the corps which he com- 
manded, and from several officers, who expressed them- 
selves strongly against his arbitrary and insolent conduct 
as a governor, I was under the necessity of divesting him 
of his command. I had conferred it upon him, because 
I thought he possessed valor ; a virtue which I esteem 
in a soldier, and I hoped that the rank in which I had 
placed him, would correct his defects, with which I was 
not unacquainted. I also hoped that experience, and 
an anxiety not to displease me, would have brought 
him to reason. I confirmed to him the rank of lieuten- 
ant-colonel which the last viceroy had given him by mis- 
take, I bestowed on him the cboss of the order of Gua- 
dalupe, I gave him the command of one of the best 
regiments in the army, the government of a fortress of 
the greatest importance at that period, the appointment 



122 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

of brigadier (con letras), and made him the second chief 
of the province. I had always distinguished him, nor did 
I on this occasion wish that he should be disgraced. I 
intimated to the minister that the order of recall should 
be framed in complimentary terms, and accompanied 
by another summoning him to court, w^here his services 
were required for the execution of a mission which he 
might consider as a promotion. 

All this, however, was not sufficient to restrain his 
volcanic passions; he felt bitterly offended, and deter- 
mined to revenge himself on the individual who had 
heaped benefits upon him. He flew to excite an explo- 
sion at Vera Cruz, where the intelligence of his having 
lost his command had not yet arrived, and where a great 
part of the inhabitants are Spaniards, who exercise great 
influence on account of their wealth, and are averse to 
the independence of the country, because it put an end 
to that exclusive commerce which was the inexhaustible 
source of their riches, to the prejudice of other nations, 
including that of Mexico itself, from which they de- 
manded and obtained such prices as they pleased. 
There it was that Santa Anna proclaimed a republic. He 
flattered the officers with promotions, he deluded the 
garrison with promises, he took the respectable portion 
of the inhabitants by surprise, and intimidated the neigh- 
boring towns of Alvarado and Antigua, as well as the 
people of color in the adjacent hamlets. He attempted 
also to surprise the town of Jalapa, and was defeated 
with the loss of all his infantry and artillery, and the 
total rout of his cavalry, who saved themselves only 
by the fleetness of their horses. Whilst Santa Anna was 
attacking Jalapa, the towns of Alvarado and Antigua 
placed themselves again under the protection of the 
government. 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 123 

This was the proper moment for putting an end to 
the rebellion, and punishing the traitor. General Echa- 
varri and Brigadier Cortazar, who commanded strong 
divisions, and had been directed to pursue him, might 
have taken the fortress of Vera Cruz without any resist- 
ance ; and by placing themselves between it and Santa 
Anna, might have captured the whole of the remains of 
the cavalry that could have rallied ; but nothing was 
done. 

The affair of Jalapa undeceived those who had afforded 
any credit to the delusive promises of Santa Anna; 
he was now shut up within the fortress of Vera Cruz and 
the imperial bridge, a position truly military ; which was 
defended by two hundred mulattoes, under the command 
of Don Guadalupe Victoria. Being thus confined to the 
fortress, he shipped his baggage and made arrangements 
for his own escape by sea, as well as for that of such of 
his companions as were committed in his cause, who 
were all prepared to fly the moment they should be 
attacked. 

Although the apathy of Echavarri should have been 
perhaps, a sufficient cause for exciting distrust as to his 
fi*delity, it was not so with me, because I had formed the 
highest opinion of him. Echavarri had experienced 
from me the greatest proofs of friendship ; T treated him 
like a brother ; I had raised him from insignificance in 
the political career to the high rank which he enjoyed ; 
I was as unreserved with him as if he were my son ; and 
it pains me now to be compelled to speak of him, 
because his actions do him no honor. 

I gave orders for the siege of the fortress, I autho- 
rized the general to act according to his ow^n discretion, 
on such occasions as he deemed necessary, without 
waiting for instructions from the government. Troops, 



124 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

artillery, provisions, ammunition, and money, were sup- 
plied him in abundance, the garrison was dismayed ; 
the officers were determined to fly ; the walls, low and 
feeble, offered every facility for an assault, if he did not 
wish to open a breach, which might have been effected 
in any direction in the course of an hour. Notwith- 
standing all these advantages, only a few skirmishes 
took place, and the siege lasted till the 2d of February, 
when the convention of Casa Mata was agreed to ; in 
consequence of which, the besiegers and the besieged 
united together for the re-establishment of the congress, 
the only object which, as they then said, they had in 
view. 

The fault which I think I committed in my govern- 
ment was, that I did not assume the command of the 
army the moment I had reason to suspect the defection 
of Echavarri. I deceived myself by reposing too 
much confidence in others. I now feel that to a states- 
m-an such a disposition is always injurious, because it 
is impossible to fathom the depth to which the perver- 
sity of the human heart descends. 

It has been already seen, that it was not love for his 
country which actuated Santa Anna in raising his voice f^ 
a republic ; let the world judge also, if it was the feel- 
ing of a patriot which guided the conduct of Echavarri, 
knowing, as he did, that at that period commissioners 
had arrived at San Juan de Ulua from the Spanish 
government, for the purpose of pacifying that part of 
America, which it considered to be in a state of rebel- 
lion. Echavarri entered into a correspondence with 
them, and with the governor of the castle ; he suddenly for- 
got his natural resentment against Santa Anna, and joined 
with him in opinion ; he forgot the friendship which I 
had shown him ; he forgot the duty which he owed to 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 125 

the Mexicans ; he forgot even his honor, in order to 
accept the system of a man who was not only his public, 
but his personal, enemy ; and by entering into a capitu- 
lation with him, though at the time in command of 
superior numbers, he crow^ned his disgrace, and brought 
a stain upon his character, which no lapse of time can 
remove. Can it be, that Echavarri, remembering his 
native land, wished to render his countrymen such a 
service, as might expiate his former conduct ? I shall 
pass no judgment upon him. Let those do it who can- 
not be charged with partiality. 

After the convention of Casa Mata, the besiegers and 
the besieged united, and rushed like a torrent over the 
provinces of Vera Cruz and Puebla, w^ithout paying any 
regard to the government, or the least respect to me, 
although it was expressly stipulated that a copy of the 
convention should be sent to me by a commission. 
This commission was reduced to one officer, who 
arrived when the whole army was in motion, and when 
every point was taken possession of, which the time 
allowed, without waiting to know if I wholly or partly 
approved, or rejected that convention. It was also 
expressly provided in that act, that no attempt should be 
made against my person or authority. 

The Marquis de Vivanco commanded the provinces 
of Puebla ad interim. He was also one of those who 
had experienced my favor. He never was, nor ever 
can be, a republican ; he abhorred Santa Anna person- 
ally, and he was hated by the army as being an anti- 
independent, and on account of a certain want of frank- 
ness in his character. Notwithstanding all this, Vivanco 
joined the rebels, and Puebla refused to obey the 
government. 

I went out to take a position between Mexico and the 
6 



126 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

rebels, for the purpose of reducing them without 
violence, by agreeing to everything which w^as not in- 
compatible with the public good. I resolved to draw a 
veil over the past, and to put out of the question every- 
thing relating personally to myself. We agreed that a- 
new congress should be convened, the convocatoria foi 
which had been already settled on the 8th of December, 
by the instituent junta, and w^as printed and about to be 
issued. Limits were jfixed to the troops on both sides, 
and it was stipulated that they should remain within 
their lines, until the national representation should meet 
and decide the question, all parties agreeing to submit 
to its determination. Such was the agreement entered 
into with the commissioners whom I had sent for that 
purpose ; but those on the other side violated the stipu- 
lations into which they had entered, by despatching 
emissaries to the provinces, for the purpose of persuading 
them to abide by the Act of Casa Mata. Several of 
the provincial deputations did accede to it ; but at the 
same moment that they did so, they expressed a resolu- 
tion to respect my person, and to resist any attempt that 
might be made against me, notwithstanding the arts and 
menaces which were used in order to change the current 
of their feelings. 

It has been said that I wished to assume absolute 
power ; I have already demonstrated the falsehood of 
this charge. I have been accused, also, of enriching 
myself from the public treasury, although at this mo- 
ment I have no other dependence than the property 
which has been assigned to me ; and if there be any 
man who knows that I have funds in any foreign bank, 
I hereby cede them to him, that he may make such use 
of them as he thinks fit. 

The best proof that I have not enriched myself, is 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 127 

that I am not rich ; I have by no means so much as I 
possessed when I undertook to establish the independ- 
ence of my country. I not only did not misapply the 
public funds, but I have not even received from the 
treasury the sums which were granted to me. The first 
junta of provisional government made an order, that a 
million of dollars should be paid to me out of the pro- 
perty of the extinct inquisition, and also assigned to me 
twenty square leagues of territory in the inland pro- 
vinces. I have not received from these resources a 
single real. The congress passed a decree that all my 
expenses should be supplied by the treasury to w^hatever 
extent I should require, and the instiutent junta granted 
me an annual income of a million and a half of dollars. 
I received no more than was barely necessary for my 
subsistence, and this was drawn in small sums by my 
steward, every four or six days, preferring always the 
exigencies of the state to my own and those of my 
family. I may mention another circumstance, which 
shows that self-interest is not my passion. When the 
instituent junta granted me the annuity of a million and 
a half of dollars, I appropriated the third part of that 
sum to the formation of a bank, which might contribute 
to the encouragement and assistance of the mining trade, 
a principal branch of industry in that country, but which 
had gone to ruin in consequence of the late convulsions. 
Regulations for the institution were drawn up by indi- 
viduals experienced in the subject, and specially com- 
missioned for the purpose. 

As little did I enrich any of my relatives by giving 
them lucrative employments. I listened to no private 
influence ; those who obtained official situations through 
me, obtained them as matter of justice in the scale of 
promotion, or through the consequences of the revolu- 



128 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

tion, according to the rank in which they stood when 
the* government was changed, without their situation 
being at all improved by my elevation to the throne. 

It has been said that I acted arbitrarily by imprison- 
ing some of the deputies of congress, and afterwards 
suspending it. To this charge I have already answered. 
It has been alleged, too, that I paid no respect to pro- 
perty, because I made use of the convoy of specie, 
amounting to one million two hundred thousand dollars, 
which left Mexico, bound for the Havana, in October, 
1822. At that time the congress had been strongly 
pressed by the government to supply the means for 
meeting the exigencies of the state, and it gave me 
authority to appropriate to that purpose any existing 
fund. It informed me privately, through some of its 
members, that in adopting this measure, it had particu- 
larly in view the convoy in question ; but that it had 
made no allusion to it in the decree, because the pro- 
mulgation of that document would warn the proprietors 
to abstract their respective shares, before the necessary 
orders could be issued. There were no means for the 
support of the army ; the public functionaries were with- 
out pay ; all the public funds were exhausted ; no loan 
could be obtained at home ; and those resources which 
might be solicited from abroad, required more time than 
the urgency of the moment could allow. At that period 
a treaty was pending for a loan from England, and the 
negotiations had every appearance of a successful issue ; 
but they could not be concluded within five or six 
months at the least, and the necessities of the state were 
too pressing to be postponed. 

At the same time, impressed as I always have been 
with the deep sense of the sacredness of private property, 
[ should never have acceded to the wishes of the con- 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 129 

grees, if I had not had good reason to believe that specie 
was remitted in that convoy for the Spanish government 
under fictitious names, and that almost the whole of it 
was intended for the Peninsula, where it would indispu- 
tably contribute to support the party which was opposed 
to the Mexicans. I trust that this will sufficiently appear 
to have been my view of the transaction, from the cir- 
cumstance that all foreigners who could prove any part 
of those funds to belong to them, immediately obtained 
an order from me for its restitution. But even suppos- 
ing (which, however, I cannot concede), that it was 
wrong to seize the above-mentioned funds, to whom is the 
error to be attributed ? Is it to be ascribed to me, who 
had no authority to levy contributions or loans, or to the 
congress, which, in a period of eight months, had 
arranged no system of revenue, nor formed any plan of 
finance ? Is it to be imputed to me, who could not 
avoid executing a peremptory law, or to the congress 
which dictated it? 

The act of Casa Mata fully justified my conduct in 
August and October, with respect to the congress. The 
last revolution has only been the result of the plans 
which were then formed by the conspirators. They 
have not adopted a single step that varies from the 
sumaria, which was taken at that time. The places 
where the cry of insurrection w^as first to be raised, the 
troops who were most deeply committed in the plot, the 
persons who were to direct the revolution, the manner 
in which I and my family were to be disposed of, the 
decrees to be passed by congress, the kind of govern- 
ment which was to be established, all are to be found 
enumerated in the declarations and results of the suma- 
ria. Neither the imprisonment of the deputies, nor the 
9 



130 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

reform of the congress, nor the seizure of the convoj, 
were the true causes of the late revolution. 

I repeatedly solicited a private interview with the 
principal dissenting chiefs, without being able to obtain 
anything more than one answer in a private note from 
Echavarri. Their guilt prevented them from facing me ; 
their ingratitude confounded them. They despaired of 
receiving indulgence from me (which was another 
proof of their weakness), although they were not igno- 
rant that I was always ready to pardon my enemies, and 
that I never availed myself of my public authority to 
avenge personal wrongs. 

The events which occurred at Casa Mata united the 
republican and the Bourbon parties, who never could 
agree but for the purpose of opposing me. It was as well, 
therefore, that they should take off the mask as soon as 
possible, and make themselves known, which could not 
have happened if I had not given up my power. I reas- 
sembled the congress, I abdicated the crown, and I re- 
quested permission, through the minister of relations, to 
exile myself from my native country. 

I surrendered my power, because I was already free 
from the obligations which irresistibly compelled me to 
accept it. The country did not want my services 
against foreign enemies, because at that time it had 
none. As to her domestic foes, far from being useful 
in resisting them, my presence might have proved rather 
prejudicial to her than otherwise, because it might have 
been used as a pretext for saying that war was made 
against my ambition, and it might have furnished the 
parties with a motive for prolonging the concealment of 
their political hypocrisy. I did not abdicate from a 
sense of fear ; I know all my enemies, and what they 
are able to do. With no more than eight hundred men 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 131 

I undertook to overthrow the Spanish government in 
the northern part of the continent, at a moment when it 
possessed all the resources of a long-established govern- 
ment, the whole revenue of the country, eleven European 
expeditionary regiments, seven veteran regiments, and 
seventeen provincial regiments of natives, which were 
considered as equal to troops of the line, and seventy or 
eighty thousand royalists, who had firmly opposed the 
progress of Hidalgo's plot. Had I been actuated by 
fear, would I have exposed myself to the danger of 
assassination, as I did, by divesting myself of every 
means of defence? 

Nor was I influenced in my resignation by an appre- 
hension that I had lost anything in the good opinion of 
the people, or in the affection of the soldiers. I well 
knew that at my call the majority of them would join 
the brave men who were already with me, and the few 
who might waver would either imitate their example, 
after the first action, or be defeated. I had the greater 
reason to depend on the principal towns, because they 
had themselves consulted me with respect to the line of 
conduct which they ought to pursue under the circum- 
stances of the moment, and had declared that they would 
do no more than obey my orders, which were that they 
should remain quiet, as tranquillity was most conducive 
to their interests as well as to my reputation. The me- 
morials from the towns will be found in the ministry of 
state and the captaincy-general of Mexico, together with 
my answers, which were all in favor of peace and against 
bloodshed. 

My love for my country led me first to Iguala, it 
mduced me to ascend the throne and to descend again 
from so dangerous an elevation ; and I have not yet 
repented either of resigning the sceptre or having prO' 



132 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

ceeded as I have done. I have left the land of my birth 
after having obtained for it the greatest of blessings, in 
order to remove to a distant country, where I and a large 
family, delicately brought up, must exist as strangers, 
and without any other resources than those which I have 
already mentioned ; together with a pension, upon which 
no man would place much dependence, who knows 
what revolutions are, and is acquainted with the state in 
which I left Mexico. 

There will not be wanting persons who will charge 
me with a want of foresight, and with weakness in rein- 
stating a congress, of whose defects I was aware, and 
the members of .which will always continue to be my 
determined enemies. My reason for so acting was this, 
that I should leave in existence some acknowledged 
authority, because the convocation of another congress 
would have required time, and circumstances did not 
admit of any delay. Had I taken any other course, 
anarchy would inevitably have ensued, upon the differ- 
ent parties showing themselves, and the result would 
have been the dissolution of the state. It was my wish 
to make this last sacrifice for my country. 

To this same congress I preferred a request that it 
would fix the place where it wished me to reside, and 
select such troops as it might think proper to form the 
escort that was to attend me to the place of embarkation. 
It fixed on a point in the bay of Mexico for my embarka- 
tion, and gave me for escort five hundred men, whom I 
wished to be taken from among those that had seceded 
from their allegiance to me, and to be commanded by 
the Brigadier Bravo, whom I also selected from my 
opponents, in order to convince them that he who now 
surrendered his arms, and placed himself in the hands 
of those persons whose treachery he had already expe- 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 133 

rienced, had not avoided meeting them in the field 
through any personal fear. 

On the day fixed for my departure from Mexico, the 
people prevented me from leaving it. When the army 
calling itself (for what reason it knew not) the liberating 
army, made its entry, there were none of those demon- 
strations which usually evince a favorable reception. 
The superior officers were obhged to post the troops 
through the capital, and to plant artillery at the princi- 
pal approaches. In the towns through which I passed, 
(which were but a few, as it was so managed that I 
should be conducted with as much privacy as possible 
from one hacienda to another), I was received with ring- 
ing of bells, and notwithstanding the harshness with 
which they were treated by my escort, the inhabitants 
crowded anxiously to see me, and to bestow upon me 
the most sincere proofs of their attachment and respect. 

After my departure from Mexico, the new govern- 
ment was obliged to resort to force in order to prevent 
the people from crying out my name ; and when the 
Marquis of Vivanco, as general- in-chief, harangued the 
troops whom I left at Tacubaya, he had the dissatisfac- 
tion to hear them shout, " Live Agustin the First !" and 
to see that they listened to his address with contempt. 
These, and a thousand other incidents which might 
appear too trifling if they were particularized, fully 
demonstrate that it was not the general will which 
effected my separation from the supreme command. 

I had already said that the moment I should discover 
that my continuance at the head of affairs tended to 
interrupt the public tranquillity, I should cheerfully 
descend from the throne ; and that if the nation should 
choose a form of government which in my view might 
be prejudicial, I would not contribute to its establish- 



134 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

ment, because it is not consistent with my principles to 
act contrary to what I think conducive to the general 
welfare. But on the other hand, I added, that I would 
not oppose it, and that my only alternative would be to 
abandon my country. I said this in October, 1821, to 
the first junta of government; and I repeated it fre- 
quently to the congress, to the instituent junta, to 
the troops, and to several individuals, both in private 
and in pubhc. The case for which I had provided 
arrived ; I complied with my word, and I have only to 
thank my enemies for having afforded me an opportu- 
nity of unequivocally showing that my language was 
always in unison with my intentions. 

The greatest sacrifice which I made, has been that 
of abandoning for ever a country so dear to my heart, 
which still retains an idolized father whose advanced 
age rendered it impossible to bring him with me, a 
sister whom I cannot think of without regret, and kins- 
men, and many a friend who were the companions of 
my infancy and youth, and whose converse formed in 
better days the happiness of my life ! 

Mexicans! this production will reach your hands. 
Its principal object is to show you that your best friend 
has never deceived the affection and confidence which 
you prodigally bestowed upon him. My gratitude to 
you shall cease only with my latest breath. When you 
instruct your children in the history of our common 
country, tell them betimes to think with kindness of the 
first Chief of the army of the Three Guarantees ; and 
if by any chance my children should stand in need of 
your protection, remember that their father spent the best 
season of his life in laboring for your welfare ! Receive 
my last adieus, and may every happiness await you ! 



At my country-house in the vicinity of ) 
Leghorn, 27th of September, 1823. ) 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 136 



POSTSCRIPT. 



Not having been allowed, as I had intended, to print 
this work in Tuscany, the time that has elapsed since I 
finished it, has afforded me an opportunity to observe 
that the events which have taken place in Mexico, since 
my departure, fully confirm everything which I have 
said w4th respect to the congress. It has been seen 
endeavoring to prolong the term of its functions, in 
order to engross all the different branches of power, and 
to form a constitution according to its own pleasure ; a 
proceeding inconsistent with the limited authority which 
has been delegated to it, and demonstrative of its con- 
tempt for the public voice, and for the decisive repre- 
sentations addressed to it from the provinces, desiring 
that it should confine itself to the formation of a new 
convocatoria. Hence, it has happened that the pro- 
vinces, in order to force the 'congress to compliance, 
have taken such strong steps as even with force of arms 
to refuse to obey its ordinances, and those of the 
government which it has created. This fact is an une- 
quivocal proof of the bad opinion which the people 
entertain of the majority of the deputies. A new con- 
gress necessarily requires time and expense ; and, there- 
fore, it may be inferred, that the people never would 
have adopted the idea of forming such a congress, if 
they looked upon the majority of the present deputies 
as wise, temperate, and virtuous legislators, or if the 
proceedings of those deputies, since their reinstatement 
in the sanctuary of the laws, had been conformable to 
the general welfare, instead of being subservient to their 
own ambitious and sinister designs. 

London, January, 1824. 



136 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

The new congress passed an act annulling the corona- 
tion of Iturbide, the acts of his government, and several of 
the decrees of the former congress. It also settled upon 
him during life a pension of twenty-five thousand dollars 
per annum, provided that he should take up and continue 
his residence in some part of Italy, and upon his family, 
after his death, unconditionally, the sum of eighteen 
thousand dollars annually. This condition, unfortu- 
nately for him, he did not keep ; his partisans encouraged 
him to return and head them ; imitating Napoleon, he 
complied with the invitation, and leaving Europe 
secretly, he landed at Soto la Marina, on the 8th of 
July, 1824. Here he terminated his life, like Murat, 
having been immediately arrested by the authorities and 
shot. 

On the 14th of November, 1824, Count Charles de 
Beneski, a Polish exile, who had long been attached to 
Iturbide, and who seems really to have borne towards 
him the same devotion Poniatowski entertained to Napo- 
leon, published in New York an account of the last mo- 
ments of the ex-emperor, and of the conduct of Garza, 
who betrayed him to his enemies, and also seemed to 
tantalize the unhappy man with alternate depressions and 
exaltations of hope in a manner altogether unworthy of 
a gentleman and a soldier. At one period of the march 
from Soto la Marina to the seat of the congress, the 
whole escort absolutely pronounced in favor of Iturbide, 
though but a few hours afterwards he was a close priso- 
ner. 

After his execution the body was followed to the 
grave by the congress, which had ordered him shot, and 
he was mourned by them as a public benefactor. 

One of two things is undeniable, either Iturbide waS' 
a patriot, and his execution was altogether unjustifiable, 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 137 

or he was a traitor, and did not deserve better. In 
either case the congress was wrong. 

It must not be forgotten that Iturbide landed without 
arms from a peaceful vessel, and that the decree by 
virtue of which he was executed, had been passed 
during his absence and never been imparted to him. 

He died like a brave man, receiving two balls in his 
head, and two in that breast which he maintained had 
ever beat with hope and love for his country ; and when 
we look over the long array of Mexican rulers, we can- 
not find one who had done so much good for his coun- 
try and so Httle harm. The idea that Mexico is capable 
of self-government has long been exploded, and should 
it happen that God in his wrath send her a king (and 
such, in fact, are all her presidents and dictators), it 
cannot be doubted that it would be better for herself 
and her neighbors, that this monarch should be one of her 
own children, than a member of the exhausted Spanish 
Bourbon family. 

Iturbide would have governed Mexico ably. He 
knew the wants of his country, her great men, her 
vices, and her virtues, and had he lived, history would 
probably have known no Santa Anna, no Alaman or 
Ampudia. The Mexican flag would now have been re- 
spectable, and not have been looked upon as the equal of 
the robber states of Barbary, to be restrained within the 
bounds of national law by fear alone. 

He seems to have foreseen all that happened at Soto 
la Marina before he left Italy, and under that feeling to 
have written the following letter to his friend and soli- 
citor : 

" My dear Sir, — It is probable that as soon as my 
departure is known, different opinions may be express- 
ed, and that some of them may be falsely colored. 1 



138 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

wish, therefore, that you should know the truth in an 
authentic manner. 

" By a misfortune that is much to be deplored, the 
principal provinces of Mexico are at this moment dis- 
united ; all those of Goatemala, New Galicia, Oajaca, 
Yacatecas, Queretaro, and others, sufficiently attest this 
fact. 

" Such a state of things exposes the independence 
of the country to extreme peril. Should she lose it, she 
must live for ages to come in frightful slavery. 

" My return has been solicited by different parts of 
the country, which consider me necessary to the estab- 
lishment of unanimity there and to the consolidation of 
the government. I do not presume to form such an 
opinion of myself ; but as I am assured that it is in my 
power to contribute in a great degree to the amalgama- 
tion of the separate interests of the provinces, and to 
tranquillize in part those angry passions which are sure 
to lead to the most disastrous anarchy, I go with such 
an object before me, uninfluenced by any other ambition 
than the glory of effecting the happiness of my country- 
men, and of discharging those obligations which I owe 
to the land of my birth — obligations which have re- 
ceived additional force from the event of her indepen- 
dence. When I abdicated the crown of Mexico, I 
did so with pleasure, and my sentiments remain un- 
changed. 

" If I succeed in realizing my plan to the extent 
which I desire, Mexico will soon present a government 
consolidated, and a people acting upon one opinion, 
and co-operating in the same object. They will all 
recognise those burdens, which, if the present govern- 
ment continued, would only fall upon a few ; and the 
mining and commercial transactions of the country will 



DON AUGUSTINO ITURBIDE. 139 

assume an energy and a firmness of which they are now 
deprived. In anarchy nothing is secure. 

" I have no doubt that the English nation, which 
knows how to think, will easily infer from this statement 
the probable political situation of Mexico. 

'• I conclude with again recommending to your atten- 
tions my children, in my separation from whom will be 
seen an additional proof of the real sentiments which 
animate the heart of your very sincere friend, 

AGUSTIN DE YTURBIDE. 
"Michael Joseph Quin, Esq., Grayh Inn.^^ 

Count de Beneski was tried afterwards for participat- 
ing in the schemes which induced Iturbide to return, but 
was acquitted, and but lately resided in Mexico in high 
repute and esteem. If Iturbide deserved death, Be- 
neski should have shared his fate. Mexico now honors 
the latter; why then was Iturbide executed? 

The family of Iturbide have for some years resided 
in the cities of Washington and Philadelphia, and won 
popularity and universal esteem. One of his sons has, 
we beheve, returned to Mexico, and is at this time a 
colonel of cavalry, and has the reputation of having 
inherited his father's courage as well as his name. 

The Spanish troops had been removed during the 
reign of Iturbide from the republic, with the exception 
of a few who continued to hold out the strong castle of 
San Juan de Ulua, situated in the sea, within six hundred 
yards of Vera Cruz. Here they remained, obstinately 
refusing to depart or to surrender, until the 20th of 
December, 1825, when they evacuated the fortress, to 
the great relief of the citizens of the place, which lay 
under their guns. 

After the abdication of Iturbide, the executive power 



140 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

was confined to a commission of three, until a constitu- 
tion could be provided by a competent assembly. 
After some time, this was effected, and, on the 4th of 
October, 1824, a constitution, framed almost entirely 
upon that of the basis of the United States, was 
solemnly proclaimed ; the Catholic religion was, how- 
ever, supported to the exclusion of all others, and there 
was no trial by jury. The territory was divided into 
nineteen states and four territories, corresponding nearly 
in names and limits with the intendencies under the 
Spanish regime ; the general legislature was composed 
of two chambers, constituted nearly like those of the 
United States, and the chief executive power was com- 
mitted to a president, chosen for four years by the 
entire majority of the states ; during whose absence or 
inability, a vice-president was charged with the same 
duties. In the election of these chief officers, the can- 
didate having the greatest number of votes after the 
president, became vice-president. In the first election. 
General Victoria was made president, and General 
Bravo vice-president. These appointments were in 
every respect unfortunate. Victoria and Bravo, though 
active and persevering as leaders of guerillas, were 
totally unfit to guide the concerns of a state ; they were 
both men of moderate capacity, uneducated, and unac- 
quainted with any other than the simplest relations 
between the governors and the governed. Moreover, 
they had long been rivals, and the mode of their elec- 
tion only served to excite jealousy and mistrust. Fears 
of such results were entertained at the time of their 
election, and w^ere afterwards fully confirmed. 



CHAPTER VI. 

MEXICAN REPUBLIC. 

Recognition by the United States of the independence of the 
revolted colonies of Spain— Congress of Panama— Mr. Poin- 
sett plenipotentiary to Mexico — Treaty of alliance and com- 
merce — Boundary question — Victoria president — Influence 
of Masonry on pohtics— Triumph of the Yorkino party. 

We have heretofore only incidentally noticed the con- 
nexion of the United States with the Mexican revolution, 
as it had had but little influence on the contest. While 
Ferdinand was a prisoner, there had been no communi- 
cation between the Union and any of the rival autho- 
rities. An attempt to procure the recognition of Joseph 
Bonaparte failed before Congress in 1809, while on the 
other hand, Don Jose de Onis, the agent of the central 
junta, was never recognised in tJiat capacity. The 
earthquake at Caraccas, and the offer of food by the 
nation, afforded an opportunity of indirect intercourse, 
and eclaireurs were sent to Chili, La Plata, Venezuela, 
&c., at different times. 

In 1818, a proposition was officially made by the 
government of the United States to that of Great Britain, 
for a concerted and provisional acknowledgment of the 
independence of La Plata; it was declined, and is 
believed to have given offence to the sovereigns assem- 
bled in conference at Aix la Chapelle. Public opinion, 
however, grew stronger in the United States in favor of the 
patriots of Spanish America, being daily increased by the 
details of the horrible proceedings of Morillo and the 
other monsters in Colombia, and by the seizure of the 



142 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

vessels of the United States on the coast of that country in 
virtue of the pretended blockade. Many attempts were 
also made in Congress, particularly by Mr. Henry Clay, 
to procure a public recognition of the independence of 
those portions of the southern continent from which the 
Spaniards had been expelled. At length, on the 8th of 
March, 1822, President Monroe, in a message to the 
national legislature, declared his conviction, that the 
United States could not consistently, with justice or with 
policy, longer delay the commencement of relations with 
these countries, as they were de facto free from the 
authority of their former European rulers. On the day 
after this message had been sent, the Spanish minister 
at Washington remonstrated, officially, against the recom- 
mendation thus made, and he subsequently communi- 
cated to the president the decrees of the cortes, 
protesting against the admission, by any other govern- 
ment, of the claims of those countries to be considered 
as sovereign states. Nevertheless, both houses of con- 
gress adopted the views presented in the message, and 
on the 4th of May, appropriations to a large amount 
w^ere made by the house of representatives, for the 
expenses of such missions as the president should think 
proper to send to the countries in question. 

Propositions were also made for a general congress of 
all the governments of North and South America, to 
meet at Panama, and after a long debate the congress 
determined to send delegates, by a vote taken April 
21st, 1826 ; and accordingly Mr. Richard Anderson, 
envoy to Colombia, and John Sergeant, of Philadelphia, 
were appointed. Mr. Anderson, however, died on his 
passage, and Mr. Sergeant having deferred his passage 
until too late, the United States were not represented. 

The result of this congress of delegates from Peru, 



THE MEXICAN REPUBLIC 143 

Mexico, Central America, and Colombia, at which agents 
from Great Britain and Holland were present, was the 
production of treaties of offensive and defensive alliance, 
to which all the other powers of America might accede. 
It separated to meet again at Tacubaya in February, 
1827. The treaties it concluded, however, were not 
ratified; no congress met at Tacubaya, and all its 
schemes ended in smoke. 

In 1825, Mr. Poinsett arrived in the city of Mexico 
as plenipotentiary of the United States, after having pre- 
viously filled high charges of a similar nature in other 
countries. About the same time Great Britain was 
represented by Mr. Ward, and to these two gentlemen 
the world is indebted for almost all the reliable informa- 
tion it possesses about Mexico. Mr. Ward immediately 
concluded a treaty of peace in behalf of England, which, 
however, was not ratified, and Mr. Poinsett sought to 
negotiate a similar one for his government. Mr. Poinsett 
also sought to obtain the assent of Mexico to a new line 
further to the west than the one then existing by virtue of 
the treaty with Spain, which had been settled February 
22, 1819, when Florida became a part of the United 
States. The Mexican minister of foreign relations 
was however, a shrewd politician, and would, on this lat- 
ter point, conclude no negotiations ; probably seeing that 
this was an exhibition of a desire of aggregation, since 
certainly maintained by the United States. All Mr. Poin- 
sett could do was to conclude a treaty of alhance and 
commerce, which he did on the 10th of July, 1826. 
This treaty was not, however, ratified by the United 
States, the senate of which declared that it would approve 
of no treaty unless the boundaries should be settled 
according to the terms of 1819. It may be said, as the 
United States had never refused to confirm that boundary, 



144 MEXICX) AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

and Mexico had insisted upon an examination (which was 
never made) of the territory, in order to fix a new one, 
this resohition seems to have been at least unnecessary, 
and may perhaps be esteemed as frivolous. Possibly, it 
may have been intended to accelerate the movements of 
the Mexican executive upon the subject. 

Mr. Poinsett was then instructed by his government, 
on the 15th of March, 1827, to propose to purchase the 
desired tract of territory from Mexico, so as to fix the 
western boundary of the United States on the river Colo- 
rado, or even on the Rio del Norte ; but this proposal 
w^as rejected by the Mexicans, and years passed on with- 
out any determination either of the limits, or of the rules 
and principles by which the intercourse between the two 
republics was to be conducted, although this intercourse 
was daily increasing. Meanwhile, grants of land in 
Texas were daily made to individuals, natives of the 
United States, and of other countries, as well as Mexi- 
cans, and a population was rising in that region, essen- 
tially foreign to Mexico in language, habits, and religion. 
From Great Britain, Mexico received a vast amount of 
capital, which was expended in almost every instance 
fruitlessly, in attempts to work new silver mines, or to 
restore to use those which had been abandoned ; the 
mining operations were, however, much improved, and 
the proportion of the precious metal obtained has been 
much greater since than before the separation from 
Spain. 

During the administration of Guadalupe Victoria, 
little was dons to bring Mexico to that state of quiet and 
security, so indispensable for the happiness and advance- 
ment of a country. The finances were badly adminis- 
tered, and peculation was openly practised in every 
direction. The president and vice-president, as before 



THE MEXICAN REPUBLIC. 145 

stated, were enemies ; the latter headed the opposition, 
and actually, on one occasion, in January, 1828, 
appeared at the head of forces in insurrection against 
the constituted authorities. He was, however, on this 
occasion, defeated and made prisoner by Guerrero. 
Independently of the evils arising from the personal am- 
bition of various individuals, there were strong parties, 
at war with each other upon material points of govern- 
ment. One party wished to maintain the privileges of 
the aristocracy and the clergy, and for that purpose was 
desirous of seeing established a central system of govern- 
ment ; the other, a democratic party, wished to reduce 
these privileges, and to maintain the federal constitution. 
By the exertions of the latter, a law was passed in 1826, 
putting an end to all titles of nobility, and restricting 
parents with regard to the distribution of their property 
among their children. Another question, which strongly 
agitated the people, was, whether the Spaniards should 
be allowed to remain in the republic or not ; by the 
influence of the same party, the expulsion of this class 
of the population was effected, in virtue of a decree 
passed on the 8th of March, 1828. 

The affairs of the state also became involved with 
Masonry, which produced as much evil in Mexico as it 
appeared once to threaten in our own country. Those 
who are adepts in Masonry, know that there exists a 
schism in the masonic world on the subject of rites, cere- 
monies, and opinions ; one party adhering to those of 
the Scotch Lodge, (the word Lodge is here used collec- 
tively j) the other submitting to the rules of York; the 
lodges in the United States are all constituted upon the 
York principles. Masonic societies, professing the 
Scotch rites, had existed in Mexico for some time pre- 
vious to the extinction of the Spanish authority, and 
10 



146 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

during the wars of the revolution they had afforded 
facilities for the propagation of plans of insurrection, and 
of other information among the people. On the estab- 
lishment of the republic, these societies were filled 
chiefly with persons professing aristocratic principles of 
government ; they were used as the means of combining 
operations for the maintenance of such principles, and 
were accordingly favored by the representatives of Great 
Britain, which was then by no means anxious for the 
extension of the republican system throughout America. 
The grand master of the Scotch masons was General 
Bravo, who was for some time their favorite candidate 
for the presidency ; they had endeavored to raise him to 
that station at the first election, and are supposed to have 
been the advisers of his insurrection in 1828, which ter- 
minated so unfortunately for him. There were some 
York lodges in Mexico, the members of which were 
democratic in their principles, and opposed poHtically 
the Escoceses. 

On his arrival, Mr. Poinsett was induced to obtain 
a charter for the establishment of a York lodge in 
the city of Mexico, which was granted by De Witt 
Clinton, of New York, at that time high in authority 
in the masonic order ; and thenceforth the York lodges 
were generally diffused and extended, and the two 
terms, Yorkino and Escocese, became what whig and 
tory are in England. Mr. Poinsett, it may be presumed, 
never had any connexion with either branch of the 
order in Mexico. In 1828, the second election for 
president and vice-president of Mexico was to be 
held. The Escoceses failing in their plan to have 
their grand master Bravo elected, put forward the 
minister of war, General Gomez Pedraza, a man of 
strong character and capacity, much disliked, howeverv 



THE MEXICAN REPUBLIC. 



147 



in the army, on account of his arbitrary principles. 
The candidate of the Yorkinos was General Vincent 
Guerrero, the persevering Indian chief, who had just 
defeated and taken Bravo, who had never bent to the 
threats or bribes of the Spaniards, and had never 
despaired of the independence of his country ; bold, 
honest, and frank, but weak and illiterate, he was much 
better quaUfied for conducting a rapid march through a 
region occupied by enemies, than for counteracting 
intrigues, and devising measures for the recovery of the 
finances, and for the pacification of a troubled country. 
The election was held in September, and the result was 
that Pedraza was chosen by a small majority over Guer- 
rero. The announcement created great satisfaction on 
the one hand, and a corresponding disappointment on 
the other. Scarcely was it made known ere an insur- 
rection broke out. 

General Santa Anna, on account of some disturbances, 
had been removed from his command at Vera Cruz, and 
taken up his residence at Jalapa. Here, considering the 
election of Pedraza as offering a good opportunity for 
an insurrection, he prevailed on the troops to join him, 
and, on the 10th of September, 1828, followed by a 
large body of men, he suddenly left Jalapa, and march- 
ed upon the fortress of Perote, situated thirty miles dis- 
tant on the road to Mexico. Having obtained posses- 
sion of this fortress, and of a large amount of public 
money, he declared himself commander of the liberating 
army, and proposed his plan for the reform of the gov- 
ernment, which is known in Mexican history as the Plan 
of Perote. By the terms of this plan, the election of 
Pedraza was pronounced fraudulent, and the legislature 
was required to make a new choice. 

President Victoria immediately declared Santa Anna 



148 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

an outlaw, and sent forces against him under generals 
Calderon and Rincon, by whom he was at least kept at 
bay. In the capital, however, was a strong party in 
favor of this plan of Perote, headed by Lorenzo de Za- 
vala, the governor of Mexico, a man of influence, talent, 
and honesty, and possessing sufficient firmness for his 
support, in the trying scenes to which he was exposed. 
The government which was in favor of Pedraza, suspect- 
ing Zavala to be engaged against him, ordered his arrest, 
but he escaped to the mountains, and joining other 
friends, they planned a scheme of resistance. It was 
carried into effect on the 30th of November, 1828, 
when a body of soldiery seized a large building, called 
the Acordada^ opposite the Alameda or public gardens 
of the capital, and took possession of the arms stored 
there. The excuse for this movement, was to have the 
Spaniards expelled ; but this was soon forgotten, in the 
general cry of Long live Guerrero. That chief appeared 
and headed the troops and people ; nearly all the 
foreigners except the members of the American legation 
quitted the city, and for three days Mexico was the 
scene of combats and plunder. A party of the mob 
attacked the house of Mr. Poinsett, who was accused 
of protecting some Spaniards ; he, however, advanced 
on the balcony and unfolded the star-spangled banner 
of his country, at the sight of which the crowd cheered 
and passed on. 

The result of this movement was the triumph of the 
Yorkino party ; a new election took place, in which 
Guerrero was chosen president, and Don Anastasio 
Bustamente vice-president, Pedraza being sent in exile 
to the United States. Victoria retired into private life, 
and the new chiefs of the state entered upon their 
respective duties on the 1st of April, 1829. Santa 



THE MEXICAN RI PUBLIC. 149 

Anna, after having been nearly forced to surrender to 
Calderon at Oaxaca, was him![.elf placed at the head of 
the very army v^^hich had deposed him, and was restored 
to his government. Mr. Poinsett soon returned home, 
leaving Mr. Butler charge of the legation of the United 
States. 

It is now time to refer to the man of Mexico whose 
history, more than any other's, embodies that of 
the nation for twenty-six years, and to review the 
progress we have made towards completion of our task. 
We have thus far followed the successive transitions of 
the state of Mexico, during the present century. We 
have observed it under the viceroys, bowed down by an 
absolute despotism, its people so oppressed that they 
dared not even look upward. We have seen it in pos- 
session, in fact, of a wealth which equals the treasures 
of fairy history, yet pouring out all its resources at the 
feet of a monarch beyond the ocean, who cared not for 
its devotion, and valued its wealth only as a means of 
perpetuating its servitude and preserving his authority 
over other of his dominions. We have seen it so long 
governed by foreigners, that it looked on the rule of a 
native as impossible, and so constantly a prey to tyranni- 
cal power, cupidity, and avarice, that it looked on justice 
and humanity as superhuman virtues. We have seen 
the people superstitious, abject, and humiliated, looking 
on heretic and rebel as synonymous terms, thinking any 
one who dared exert the precious boon of reason as 
derelict in duty and loyalty. We have seen that people, 
animated by the Promethean fire of Liberty of Thought, 
burst the mental fetters which weighed on it, and rise to 
the dignity of thinking men. We have seen its children 
enact scenes which recall the brightest days of ancient 
Greece. a:sd seen its martyrs march to the place of exe- 
7 



150 MEXICO AND HEK MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

cution cheered by that consciousness, which the old 
Enghsh patriots were so awake to, that their blood 
would but increase the fertility of the soil of Freedom, 
and aware that '< the good old cause must triumph." 

We have seen the great men who had won the liberty 
of Mexico pass away, one by one hurried from view 
by war and disease. Guerrero, Victoria, all have passed 
from the scene as utterly as Hidalgo, Morelos, and 
Iturbide ; and we now behold Bravo, Bustamente, and 
Farias occupying a position subordinate to Alaman and 
Santa Anna, the two powerful minds which would long 
ago have destroyed even the shadow of Mexican nation- 
ality, had it not been that they kept each other in equi- 
poise, or, like two poisons, neutralized each other. 

We have now to trace a sad descent. We are to 
see the people gradually become corrupt, until it appears 
almost to lose the faculty of distinguishing right and 
wrong. We are to watch the course of its principal 
men, see them become gradually more degraded, and 
cease at last even to pretend to virtue. We shall see 
the treasury looked upon as spoils and proclaimed as 
an inducement to win partisans. 

We shall learn that a people may have no annals, 
and yet not be blessed, and see that it is not more unim- 
portant to mankind, that the fate of every animal which 
falls in the great plaza de toros should be chronicled, 
than the defeat of the grasping and ignobly ambitious 
chieftains, who rise successively on the horizon and dis- 
appear from it, should be recorded. We shall see their 
threats derided, see their fortresses bombarded almost 
without resistance, and see them incompetent to profit 
by the teachings of experience, rush headlong into a 
contest whence there can be no honorable egress with 



THL MEXICAN REPUBLIC. 151 

safety, yet see them unable to resolve to fight like men 
in defence of their national existence. 

We shall see evidence after evidence of this degra- 
dation rise before us, until we shall almost be inclined to 
doubt the truth of that holy maxim, that nowhere has 
any race or class been formed to be "hewers of wood and 
drawers of water" to another. 

The person who probably has contributed more than 
any other to bring about this condition of affairs has 
been General Santa Anna. In the following pages, we 
shall always find him him watching his opportunity, and, 
remembering the maxim of divide et impera, seeking to 
array the other eminent men of Mexico against each 
other, and uniformly taking advantage of their collisions 
to strike out a new path for himself. Wily and astute, 
his hand has rarely been seen, though all have been con- 
vinced he only has pulled the wires in obedience to 
which the pohtical puppets have moved, so that though 
all hold him accountable for most that has occurred, we 
can but confess it must be only on the grounds, that 
" whenever a series of crises occurs, and one man is 
uniformly found to take advantage of all of them, it is 
probable he has contributed to bring it about." 

We shall witness the exhibition of great intellectual 
power, of a ready wit and cunning hand, which never 
has deceived him, and see him gather resources almost 
from his defeats. We shall see the hundred minor 
chieftains, ever anxious to ruin each other, bend submis- 
sively to him, and look on him vdth a devotion other 
men pay only to their country. 

We shall watch him, while a prisoner in a hostile 
camp, exerting an influence in the capital of his country, 
and rushing from the torpor of long repose into action. 



162 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

to make political capital out of a repulse which would 
have ruined another. 

From the contemplation of this period of Mexican 
history we shall rise with disgust, wondering for what 
inscrutable purpose God has given so fair a land in cap- 
tivity to such a ruler, and hesitating if the old creed of 
Visigothic conquerors, that beautiful countries were 
confided to degraded races until a firmer and worthier 
stock were ready to occupy them, may not be true ; or 
perhaps shrink back with terror from that climate and 
soil which has made of the children of two such rugged 
races as the Spaniard of the fifteenth century and 
the North American Indian, beings as degraded as are 
the present Mexicans. We shall be inclined to doubt 
if the country be not in worse hands than when it was 
ruled by Montezuma, and if the unfurling of the Spa- 
nish flag in America has not retarded the progress of 
human enlightenment. Finally, we shall wonder how 
long Mexico will be punished, and if any servitude will 
purify her from her many sins. 



i 



CHAPTER VII. 

SANTA ANNA. 

Santa Anna— Mango de Clavo — Proifbunces against Iturbide 
— President — Zacatecas— Texan War— Revolution — Exile- 
Proclamation, &c. 

In regard to Don Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, we 
have as little positive information, as about any other of 
the Mexican military chieftains. Of his early history, 
we know nothing certainly — one account representing 
him as the son of a Spanish officer, and the other, as 
born of obscure parentage. In the sketch of the life of 
Iturbide, it has been seen how important a part in hi^ 
dethronement was sustained by Santa Anna, of which 
it may not, however, be improper to make a recapitula- 
tion here. 

The road from Vera Cruz to Mexico, for some 
distance, is by the side of the sea, and then crosses a 
sandy desert, barren and sterile as can be imagined. 
It then passes close to a tranquil bay, the green ripples 
of the surface of which, after even so short an absence 
from the broad expanse of the gulf, seem grateful in- 
deed, and then becomes lost amid the masses of a tropi- 
cal forest, extending farther than the eye can reach. 
The traveller, even amid its natural arcades, hears the 
murmur of the ocean mingled with the whispering of the 
leaves, and, delighted, surrenders his ear to this har- 
mony, which, if he travel in a Mexican coach (a litter 
or palanquin), lulls him to sleep ; or, if on horseback, 



tM MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

fills his mind with all the poetry with which the country 
around him is instinct. From time to time, he discovers 
through the thick undergrowth a herd of asses, or the 
brow of an untamed bull, which exhibits but for a mo- 
ment his rugged form, and in an instant becomes 
lost in the impenetrable thicket. The traveller, who 
would be prompted by curiosity to ask to whom these 
herds belong, would.be told they came from the haci- 
enda of Mango de Clavo, and belong to General Santa 
Anna. 

It is to this hacienda, a term which corresponds 
nearly with the English manor, that the man who, since 
1821, has been the hero of all the revolutions of Mexico, 
has come, now conquered, now victorious, to seek re- 
pose from the misfortune of defeat or the turmoil of 
victory. There he has matured new plans, and changed 
his political antipathies into personal friendships; has 
meditated on schemes to overthrow those whom he 
has fostered, and to protect persons whom he had 
previously bitterly opposed. There he has lived retired, 
sometimes forgotten almost, until the arrival of one of 
those crises when men of genius make all things their 
own, and when his war-cry has been heard from one 
end of Mexico to another. To understand/what will 
follow in this story of Santa Anna's life, it is necessary 
that the reader should remember that Mexico is now in 
the same condition in which England was under the Tu- 
dors, and that it cannot be estimated by the rules which 
we apply to the present history of the civilized world. 
Each Mexican general occupies the position of a feudal 
baron, and each department and command is, as it were, 
an apanage.i Facts alone can describe the versatile char- 
acter of Santa Anna ; the aspirations of a man who, Riche- 
lieu-like, knows no such word as fail, who has found 



SANTA ANNA. 155 

ruin in his victories and success in his defeats, who sports 
with his own Ufa and fortune heedlessly as he does 
with that of others ; who sheds blood in torrents, yet is 
not, except in the United States, thought cruel ; and who 
understands the rash and impulsive nature of his com- 
patriots well enough to dare all things without incur- 
ring the accusation of temerity. 

Santa Anna must be about forty-five or forty-six 
years old ; his stature is tall, and age has made no im- 
pression on him as yet. He is pale, has black eyes 
and raven hair, which curls over a brow lofty and ex- 
pressive of daring. He has the air and manners of a 
gentleman, and a ready elocution, which fascinates all 
who can understand him in his native tongue, which he 
speaks with a purity rare in Mexico. He possesses an 
intuitive perception of character, and knows what 
springs of the human soul to touch to effect the won- 
derful combinations for which he is so famous. 

He appears for the first time in the history of Mexico, 
in 1821. At this time, though very young, he com- 
manded a body of insurgents, at the head of whom he 
took possession of Vera Cruz. After having been 
favored by the emperor Iturbide, whom he supported 
with all his power, he was summoned to appear before 
him to give an account of some act of grave insubordi- 
nation. He was deprived of his command, a punish- 
ment which he richly deserved, yet by no means expect- 
ed. He returned to Vera Cruz, placed himself at the head 
of the garrison, which was attached to him ; and after a 
brief harangue, declared against the imperial authority 
and proclaimed Mexico an independent republic. Gen- 
eral Echavarri was sent to oppose him, but, contrary to 
all expectation, joined him. The cities of Oaxaca, Gua- 
dalajara, Guanajuato, Qucretaro, San Luis de Potosi, and 



156 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS, 

Puebla, followed his example, and within one year after 
Santa Anna's dismission, Iturbide was dethroned. A few 
months after the installation of the new republic, the first 
champion of which he had been, Santa Anna revolted 
against the authority of congress. 

In 1828 Santa Anna was again governor of Vera 
Cruz, and a revolt was discovered in Mexico, in 
which he was thought to be an accomplice, and was 
therefore recalled to the capital. One who had dis- 
obeyed the brave and gallant Iturbide, was by no means 
likely to yield to the headless congress. Far from sur- 
rendering his command, which extended only over the 
city of Vera Cruz, Santa Anna usurped authority over 
the whole province, appealed to the faithful Vera 
Cruzanos, defeated the troops which were sent against 
him, and took possession of the castle of Perote. The 
congress declared Santa Anna an outlaw, and other 
troops were sent against him. 

Santa Anna did not, in his turn, declare the congress 
outlaws, but commenced against it one of those wars of 
skirmishes in which he has almost always been success- 
ful. In this campaign his constant attendant and com- 
panion was Arista. 

The soldiers of Santa Anna were all from the tierra 
caliente ; men whose bodies, of the color of bronze, seem 
to suffer from exposure no more than that metal does. 
The vomito had no effect on them, while the forces of 
the government, from the tierra templada, died by hun- 
dreds ; they were able to support hunger, fatigue, the hot 
air, and the broiling sun, with no sustenance frequently 
after a day's march, other than the fruits of the country 
and the excitement of a cigar. At the head of such men, 
Santa Anna laughed at pursuit by enemies who died by 
the wayside from fatigue. After a long campaign, he was. 



SANTA ANNA. 



157 



however, forced to leave Perote and retire towards 
Tehuacan and Camino de Oaxaca, in which city he for- 
tified himself. 

Followed up by a superior force, he was forced 
to retreat from house to house, from street to street, 
and finally to shut himself up with his party in the 
vast convent of Santo Domingo, which, like most other 
ecclesiastical buildings in Mexico, was protected by high 
walls with loop-holes, defended by a massive gate, and 
more than all, by the sanctity attached to it. He was 
under no apprehension of a storm, for no man in Mex- 
ico would lift; a hand against a consecrated building, 
and famine alone could force him to submit to his 
assailants. 

Santa Anna knew with whom he had to deal, and 
therefore, without paying any attention to his enemies, 
quietly laid himself down for his siesta (an indispensa- 
ble in war or peace to a Mexican), in the coolest part 
of the convent. The leaguerers were less composed, 
but were also ready enough to take their chocolate 
and rest. On the next day the firing began, for 
though it would have been impious to injure the walls 
of the church, there was no objection to slaying the 
men who were behind them. The party of Santa Anna, 
protected by the walls, suffered little, while his enemies 
were mowed down by his deadly musketry. A day and 
night passed as the first twenty-four hours had done, 
except that the skilful Santa Anna had under the shelter 
of the night managed to drive into the court-yard of the 
convent, a large number of oxen, by the side of which, 
with their horses saddled, stood a large party of the hardy 
rancheros from the tierra caliente. A signal was silently 
given, each sprang on his steed, and the besieged, 
who it, was fancied w^re satisfied with their success, 



158 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

threw wide the gates as was the custom in solemn pro- 
cessions. Instead, however, of the banners of the church, 
of chasubles and priests, the besiegers saw lancers with 
their red flags and dragoons with their yellow jackets. 
The towers, instead of displaying waving flags and 
ringing with peals of joy, were filled with soldiers, who 
fired into the ranks of the besiegers, who were on their 
part almost too much astonished to notice a detachment 
of the garrison of Santo Domingo dashing at full speed 
towards a neighboring convent, of which it immediately 
took possession. The commander of the government 
troops saw at once how grievous a fault he had com- 
mitted by failing to take charge of this convent, from 
the towers of which he could have incommoded so 
much the besieged. He was forced at once to change 
his position, for he was between two fires, since Santa 
Anna's last manoeuvre. After a lapse of many days, 
during which Santa Anna, as was his wont, bided his 
time, and the government officer sought by all means to 
get the better of his wily antagonist, the latter cast 
his eyes on the belfry of the building last occupied, 
and then turning to his adjutant, said: "Unless I am 
mistaken, Don Cayetano, instead of those agile soldiers 
so busy in shooting us for three days past, I see 
monks in the towers. The long-beards cannot have 
joined Santa Anna !" 

" Senor, they must have done so, otherwise they 
could not have afforded to make such a detachment." 

Soon after the hoods and frocks of the friars were 
distinguished every where on the azotea, or roof of the 
convent, and the bells began to sound as if they rang for 
the deliverance of their house, or to make up for lost 
time. 

One monk especially seemed to excel his comrades 



SANTA ANNA. 



159 



m zeal and activity, and in his enthusiasm suffered his 
hood to fall off and discover for a moment a bright red 
moustache. The elevation of the tower prevented this 
from being observed. The general of the congress had 
observed what was going on, and immediately ordered 
the convent to be occupied. A regiment at once 
obeyed^ and advanced with shouldered arms. Suddenly 
the monks let fall their gowns, and brilHant uniforms 
appeared in their place. A shower of balls fell on the 
advancing regiment, from both convents, the effects of 
which cross-fire decimated them before they could 
recover from their surprise. 

The position of Santa Anna, however, had become 
critical, for his finances were exhausted. Arista, who 
was the person with the red moustache, had contrived to 
join him, after an expedition to the neighboring mines 
of Oaxaca. 

" Tell me. Arista," he is represented to have said on 
this occasion, "how much money do you bring me?" 
« Not a j9e50 .'" replied he; "but I have brought the 
administrador, who protests he has not one W^Z.'" 
Santa Anna bade him tell his muchachos (his boys) that 
he had no money ; but promised them an increase of 
one-third of their pay, whenever he could get it. 

But chance just then came to the aid of Santa Anna. 
There was a report that Mexico had been the scene of 
another revolution. Besieged and besiegers rushed 
together, and called each other friends and brothers. 
The monks were restored to their convent, the admmis- 
trador to his mines, and the soldiers of Santa Anna tp 
the tierra cahente. He, too, returned to Manga de 
Clavo. This part only was sustained by him in the 
revolution which deposed Pedraza. He reaped much 
advantage from it, however, the command of the state of 



160 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

Vera Cruz being conferred on him immediately, and 
subsequently a seat in Pedraza's cabinet as minister of 
war, at that time a promotion which no one could 
have -anticipated, or he have hoped. What followed 
in the next few years we have already referred to, and 
will therefore omit all that ensued until the arrival of 
that part of Santa Anna's career which established him 
as the man of the nation. 

The Mexican people had been so long free from the 
Spanish rule that they looked on a return of their old 
masters as impossible, until, in the summer of 1829, 
General Barradas landed at Tampico in command of 
an army of four thousand Spanish veterans. Santa 
Anna was not then at Vera Cruz, but in Mexico in 
charge of his bureau ; he was no sooner informed of the 
landing of Barradas, than with seven hundred men in 
open boats he crossed the Bahia and landed at Tuspan, 
avoiding the Spanish vessels most dexterously in his 
hazardous voyage of seventy miles across the gulf. 
From Tuspan in canoes or perogues he crossed the 
lagoon of Jamaihua, and landed within three leagues 
of Tampico, which was then occupied by Barradas's 
forces, the general having gone on an expedition into 
the interior with three thousand men, and left one thou- 
sand to garrison the city. Santa Anna resolved on an im- 
mediate attack at daylight the next morning, August 1st, 
, 1829, and after a contest of four hours the town capitu- 
lated. Scarcely had this occurred than General Bar- 
radas reappeared. Santa Anna was impeded from 
retreat by the river which intervened between him and 
the city, and it w^as evident nothing could save him but 
one of those stratagems which have so often decided the 
fate .of armies, and which the mind of Santa Anna seems 
so peculiarly qualified for conceiving. By means of his 



SANTA ANNA. 161 

agents he contrived to persuade Barradas that he was at 
the head of an overwhelming force ; and the Spaniard, 
instead of an attack, entered into negotiations, with the 
understanding that while they were progressing, Santa 
Anna should retire into his own quarters. Santa Anna 
of course consented, and, with drums beating and ban- 
ners waving, crossed the river and returned in safety. 
When Barradas learned how he had been duped, his 
mortification was extreme, but the mistake could not be 
remedied. The effect of this ruse was such that the 
Mexican army was not attacked until Santa Anna had 
been reinforced, and the Spaniard saw it would then be 
vain. Every night the Spaniard w^as attacked by his 
persevering foe ; and on the 11th of September a vigor- 
ous assault was made on the fort at the bar, which forced 
the Spanish general into a capitulation, by which he 
laid down his arms and soon after sailed wdth the rem- 
nant of his force, twenty- two hundred men, to Havana. 
This was the last effort of Spain against Mexico, a con- 
vulsive effort w^hich w^as near success in consequence of 
the wildness which had animated it, and against which 
it was impossible to provide. 

As Mr. Thompson, the envoy of the United States, 
says, this defence of Santa Anna recalls to us the history 
of General Jackson's famous defence of New Orleans ; 
the strong point of which w^as not, as has generally been 
supposed, the defence of the city behind the cotton bags, 
but the night attack on the British immediately after their 
landing amid the wind and the rain, which enabled the 
officers of engineers to throw up the breastworks which 
such men as it was the privilege of the American general 
to command, could defend against any force. One 
thing, however, is sure, the strategy of Santa Anna on 
that occasion was second to no feat of arms which has 
11 



162 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

occurred on this continent, except the defence of New 
Orleans. The result of this affair was the promotion of 
Santa Anna. 

Guerrero was then president, a gallant man and 
soldier, but altogether incompetent for the administra- 
tion of a civil government, and the people were gene- 
rally dissatisfied with him. It would undeniably be 
treason of the blackest kind in the United States to 
raise the standard of disobedience to the constituted 
authorities of the country ; but it may be doubted if in 
Mexico, just emerged from a civil war, where all was 
yet confused, circumstances did not at least excuse, if 
not justify the deposition of any one manifestly unable 
to administer the affairs of the nation. Though the 
opposition to Guerrero was general, Yucatan first threw 
down the gauntlet on the 4th of December, by seceding 
from the republic. General Bustamente soon after 
raised the standard of revolt, Santa Anna remaining 
apparently undecided at Vera Cruz, where he was suf- 
fered to command. The result was, that by the plan of 
Jalapa, Guerrero was deposed, and Bustamente assumed 
the presidency, apparently with the full consent of all. 
For three years the republic was devastated by wars ; 
and after remaining quiet for a short time, Guerrero 
took arms, but was defeated by Bravo at Chilpanzingo, 
on the 2d of January, 1831, and became a refugee. 
Thus situated, he went to Acapulco and embarked for 
Europe in a Genoese vessel, but was delivered by the 
captain, Picaluga, to the authorities of a neighbor- 
ing port, Guatulco. He was thence removed to Oaxaca, 
tried by a military commission, and shot at Cuilapa, a 
town in the neighborhood. He is said to have been 
betrayed at the instance of Alaman, Bustamente's 
secretary of state, who paid the rascally Italian (a 



SANTA ANNA. 163 

protege of Guerrero in his prosperity), in consideration 
of this treason, the sura of fifty thousand dollars. 

The government of Bustamente was not, however, 
peaceful. General Alvarez and other chiefs maintained 
themselves in opposition during all 1831, and in 1832 
another revolution was effected Avith greater bloodshed 
than those which had exalted Guerrero and Bustamente. 

On the 3d of January, supported by the garrisons 
of Vera Cruz and San Juan de UUoa, Santa Anna 
declared against the existing government, an example 
soon followed by the commander of Tampico, General 
Moctezuma. To repress these demonstrations. General 
Calderon was sent by Bustamente with a large body of 
troops; and Santa Anna, on the 3d of March, was de- 
feated at Talome, about six leagues from Vera Cruz, 
and afterwards besieged in the latter place. Before the 
summer, however, had passed away, Santa Anna was 
reinforced, and obliged Calderon to fall back, in conse- 
quence of which and the increasing demonstrations 
against the president, the latter was forced to come to 
terms and to consent to quit the country, and Pedraza 
declared to have been duly elected in 1828. Pedraza's 
presidency expired on the 31st of March, 1833, 
previous to which Santa Anna was chosen to succeed 
him, with Gomez Farias as his vice-president. In con- 
sequence of some difference between the congress and 
president, relative to the passage of laws abridging the 
power of the aristocracy and clergy, the former declared 
freedom of discussion was violated, (which in fact was 
really the case, Santa Anna having plainly intimated to 
it, that if it did not comply with his wishes, he would 
use force), and suspended its sessions. May 14th, 1834. 
Immediately on this, Santa Anna appealed to the people 
hi a proclamation, to sustain peace and order, which he 



164 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

represented as threatened by the congress, and effected 
the pronunciaraento of Cuernavaca, on the 25th of 
May, the object of which was the repeal of certain laws 
against the church, tlie banishment of certain indi- 
viduals, and the reorganization of the government ; until 
which was effected, Santa Anna was endowed almost 
with the powers of a dictator. 

A new congress met in 1835, nearly all its members 
coming with instructions from the people or the legisla- 
tures of the states, consenting that the form of the govern- 
ments might be altered according to the will of the ma- 
jority ; and congress accordingly determined it had a 
right to alter the government in any point not affecting 
the maintenance of a republican system, the Roman Cath- 
olic church, the independence of the country, and the 
freedom of the press. The legislatures of a great many 
of the states had declared in favor of an alteration of the 
constitution. Yucatan, which had remained separate 
since 1829, became united, and declared itself ready to 
submit to the action of the congress. The state of 
Texas and Coahuila remained opposed to a change, but 
General Cos, the military commandant, summarily dis- 
persed the legislature ; and Zacatecas having declared 
against a change, Santa Anna marched against it in per- 
son, and by a bloody battle, on the 11th of May, reduced 
it to submission. There was elsewhere no opposition, 
except on the part of old Bravo, who had fought too 
long for the liberty of the country thus to see it frittered 
away. He long continued in arms in the south. 

Notwithstanding this opposition, congress proceeded 
with its labors, and a constitution was formed anni- 
hilating the state governments, dissolving their legis- 
latures, and uniting all the states into one government, 
whole and indivisible. Thus was formed the constitution 



SANTA ANNA. 165 

of Mexico, which has produced all its later troubles, 
and is the present government of Mexico, pronounced 
by all, from its unwieldy character, probably the worst 
that ever existed. Its features are these : A president, 
selected for eight years; a house of deputies and a 
senate ; the latter selected in the most complicated man- 
ner by electors thrice removed from the people ; and a 
supreme court. It also embraces what is termed the 
supreme conservative power, with a veto on everything, 
composed of five members, and, in the words of the 
organic law, ^^responsible to God and public opinion 
alone^ 

While the legislature was thus remodelling the con- 
stitution, occurred the Texas revolution. The country 
west of the Sabine had long since attracted the attention 
of the frontier population of the United States, masses 
of which were strewn in various parts of the country, 
having received grants of land, and been permitted to 
settle on certain conditions which the adoption of the 
new constitution violated. In December of 1835, a 
congress of nine persons assembled at Goliad, and 
declared themselves independent, which was followed 
by a more formal declaration in March, 1836, at Wash- 
ington, Texas. A provisionary government was orga- 
nized, and General Samuel Houston was appointed 
commander-in-chief. Hostilities had commenced im- 
mediately after the first declaration, between the Mexican 
garrisons and the settlers, and Santa Anna despatched 
General Cos to Monclova, the seat of government of 
Coahuila and Texas, with orders to humble that depart- 
ment, and immediately afterwards repaired to the city 
of Mexico. 

When General Cos had reached the seat of govern- 
ment he acted as if he expected no difficulty, and 



166 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

required the surrender to the president of the governor 
of the state and many eminent citizens, both of American 
and Spanish extraction, among whom was Lorenzo de 
Zavala, who had previously been governor of Mexico, 
and had been compelled to expatriate himself at the time 
of the plan of Jalapa. It may not be improper here to 
state, that Zavala identified his fortunes with those of 
Texas, the vice-president of v/hich he became, and 
received the compliment of having one of the cruisers 
of the new republic called after him. He was a man of 
rare energy and great decision of character, and an orna- 
ment to his native province, Yucatan. 

Of course the requisition was not complied with. 
The legislature was dispersed, and the governor forced 
to escape. The rights of the state w^re thereby finally 
destroyed ; and, to put the last finish to the military des- 
potism, the arms of the American settlers were ordered 
to be surrendered. The people of Texas, however, 
were no hybrid men, but true Americans in feeling, and 
they determined to resist the invaders, and make good 
by the bow and spear the titles to the settlements they 
had made by virtue of the invitation and grants of the 
Mexican nation, which had yielded to them rights and 
assumed duties not to be revoked or laid aside at the 
will of either party to the contract. 

Cos had already crossed the boundary of the state 
with an army of fifteen hundred men, and had entrenched 
himself at San Antonio de Bexar, a strong town on the 
river San Antonio, near where the twenty-second parallel 
of latitude crosses it. He sent forward a party under 
Colonel Castonedo to Gonzales, on the Guadalupe, 
which empties into the San Antonio, with an order for 
the people to surrender their heavy ordnance. They 
not only refused to do this, but collected a party of 



SANTA ANNA. 167 

about one hundred men to attack him. They did attack 
Castonedo, and with such good will, that though he had 
twice as strong a force as they, he was defeated and 
compelled to fall back in the greatest haste on San Anto- 
nio de Bexar, or Bexar, as the Texans usually call it. 
The war now began, and the Texans determined not to 
be whipped without at least a show of resistance. A 
national convention was called, which gave its adhesion 
to the constitution of 1824, declared null by Santa 
Anna, and appealed to the people of the other depart- 
ments of the republic to stand by them in defence of 
constitutional liberty. As when the American congress 
appealed to the people of Ireland, Scotland, and Eng- 
land, this address was disregarded, and it became evi- 
dent that arms alone could decide the controversy. A 
Texan general, named Burleson, was then before the 
walls of the Alamo, a fortress of Bexar, with six hundred 
Americans, awaiting the developments of time, when 
Milam, who had long been a prisoner in Mexico, made 
his appearance. Milam had effected his escape, and 
had gone through great difficulties in reaching them, so 
that when he joined the force of Burleson, and was told 
of the destruction of even the shadow of liberty, in the 
republic, he had no difficulty in obtaining volunteers to 
the number of two hundred and sixteen men. With 
these he immediately marched from the Alamo to attack 
the principal defences, in which, as has been stated, was 
Cos, with fifteen hundred men. The scene subsequently 
enacted on a large scale in the streets of Monterey, then 
occurred in San Antonio de Bexar. The deadly western 
rifle and knife in the hands of such men, induced after five 
days of incessant strife a surrender of the garrison, which 
had lost more men than the besiegers numbered, with four 
hundred stand of arms, &c. The Texans' loss was 



168 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

small, but important, for Milam had been killed. Ill 
news flies apace. Santa Anna soon heard of the defeat 
of Cos, and in the winter of 1836, crossed the Rio 
Grande with an army of ten thousand men, in the van 
of which w^as borne a red flag, a token that he intended 
to give no quarter. The advance proceeded to lay siege 
to the Alamo, in w^hich was a Texan officer named 
Travis, with one hundred and forty-five men. Messen- 
gers w^ere immediately despatched to the eastern part of 
Texas, to say that the fort was besieged, and appealing 
in these Spartan terms to his companions: 

" The enemy have demanded me to surrender at 
discretion, otherwise the garrison is to be put to the 
sword. I have answ^ered his summons with a cannon- 
shot. Our flag still floats proudly from the walls. We 
shall never surrender or retreat. Liberty or death !" 

It is to be regretted that the Alamo was not evacu- 
ated, for any reinforcements which could have been sent 
would have been lost before Santa Anna's overwhelming 
force, and the place was by no means valuable as a 
military position. 

Travis resisted for six days, repulsing every attack, 
but at last Santa Anna arrived and assumed the com- 
mand in person. For four days longer they held out, 
until at last their fire was almost silenced. Tw^o 
attempts to scale the walls were repulsed, the Texans 
using the buts of their guns with great effect. The 
third attempt succeeded, though not without immense 
loss. No quarter was asked for and none offered ; and 
when Santa Anna, after the capture, mustered his army, 
fifteen hundred had been killed, ten times the number 
of the Texans engaged. The pages of history record 
no greater carnage, and from this time for ever, Texas 
was separated from the United States of Mexico. In 



\ 



SANTA ANNA. 169 

the defence of the Alamo fell Travis, Crockett, and 
Bowie; the latter, while on his bed unable to move, 
having been bayoneted by order of Santa Anna. The 
bodies of all the defenders were collected into a heap 
and burned. 

When Santa Anna declared himself dictator, Texas 
was not alone in her opposition to this usurpation, Coa- 
huila and Zacatecas having united with her. The one, 
however, had been intimidated, and the other conquered, 
and the battle was evidently to be fought by Texas 
alone. When, therefore, Santa Anna, flushed by his 
success, was overrunning the whole country, there re- 
mained but one alternative ; and, on the 2d of March, 
1836, Texas declared itself independent. 

How the campaign in Texas progressed is now well 
known, and more than a glance at some of its events is 
unnecessary. One event, how^ever, deserves especial 
mention and reprobation. A number of volunteers 
commanded by Colonel Fanning surrendered to Urrea 
(whose notoriety is derived solely from his concern in 
this transaction, and his participation with Farias in a 
pronunciamento in 1840), with a written stipulation 
that they w^ere to be treated as prisoners of war, 
and be permitted to embark at Coporo for the United 
States. By order of Santa Anna, this capitulation 
was violated, and the defenceless men were on their 
march made to halt and shot in cold blood. 

Santa Anna subsequently when in the United States 
was taken to task for this assassination by General 
Jackson, and stated to the American minister at Mexico, 
Mr. Thompson, that he thus accounted for it. The 
campaign was undertaken in obedience to an act of 
the Mexican congress, which ordered no quarter to be 
given, and that the terms allowed by Urrea were a viola* 



170 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

tion of this law. The terms of capitulation would, how- 
ever, have been observed, but that on the route to Coporo 
the prisoners became mutinous, and the officer in com- 
mand asked for instructions how he should proceed. In 
this emergency, Santa Anna sent a copy of the act, and 
consequently all were shot but two surgeons, who were re- 
tained to attend on the Mexican invalids. This explana- 
tion could not possibly have satisfied General Jackson, 
for it has obvious feeble points. Imprimis, if General 
Urrea exceeded his power, he was responsible for it, 
but the capitulation should have been not the less 
observed ; in the second place, Santa Anna had ten 
thousand men in Texas, and could have furnished any 
guard needed. The world will ever continue to look 
on the transaction as a wholesale deliberate murder, for 
which he must account to history if not to the kinsmen 
of his victims. 

General Samuel Houston about this time com- 
manded twelve hundred men, and was gradually re- 
treating towards the eastern shore of Texas, whence 
but few men as yet had come. He wished to induce 
Santa Anna to separate his forces in two portions, and 
was confident that with the five hundred men he ex- 
pected from the country on the Red river and Sabine, 
he could defeat him in detail and drive him from Texas. 
With this view he left the Colorado and crossed again 
the Brazos, a circumstance which dispirited his men. It 
happened, however, as he had designed. Santa Anna 
divided his forces, and with fifteen hundred men 
marched in person towards San Felipe. Small parties 
were left behind him, and Houston continued to re- 
treat. Santa Anna was deceived and pushed on, leav- 
ing his heavy artillery behind him, without a doubt but 
that he- would drive Houston across the Sabine. The 



SANTA ANNA. 171 

latter concealed his forces until the Mexicans had 
crossed the Brazos and marched towards Harrisburg. 
Then Houston turned, marched at once towards Buffalo 
Bayou, and on the 19th of April came up with the 
enemy. The next day was passed in skirmishing, 
without any decided advantage on either side. 

The two armies became engaged on the 31st of 
April, w^here the Bayou discharges itself into the San 
Jacinto. How Santa Anna was beaten has always been 
a mystery; he had the advantage of position, and 
had his artillery, a portion of which had reached him, 
well posted. A person who served there, and who has 
had long experience in warfare, informed the author 
that he never saw a more unpromising yet a more reso- 
lute charge, than the one by the Texans headed by 
Houston on Santa Anna's forces. They rushed up the 
hill with their guns at a trail, until within about twenty- 
five yards of the enemy, when they halted and delivered 
four distinct volleys with a precision which was frightful. 
The enemy's artillery were not idle, but delivered more 
than one fire with great coolness, which the Texans 
avoided by throwing themselves on their faces at the 
flash, and rising at the report with fearful yells to renew 
their fire. At length one company dashing forward 
went pell-mell over the Mexican position and captured 
the guns. The order for a charge was given by Hous- 
ton, and his men rushed like a tempest on the enemy. 
All opposition was over. The slaughter at the Alamo 
and the massacre of Fanning w^ere fearfully avenged by 
the death of seven hundred and twenty Mexicans, and 
the capture of six hundred more, among whom, sad to 
tell, was the redoubtable Santa Anna. 

How Santa Anna was taken has been often described, 
and all accounts of it should be received with great 



172 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

aLowance. Three persons have in the presence of the 
author avowed their participation in his capture, and 
each gave an entirely different location and detail to the 
event. Suffice it to say, he was taken ; and, when 
brought before Houston, said, " Sir, yours is no com- 
mon destiny ; you have captured the Napoleon of the 
west," and immediately engagements were entered into 
which it was hoped would terminate the war. 

Before deciding, however, Houston called a council. - 
Under no other circumstances would the Texans have 
treated with him and done aught but order Santa Anna to 
be shot by the quarter-guard for his slaughter of Fanning's 
men, but the certainty that Filasola, an accomplished 
Italian in the Mexican service, was marching towards 
them at the head of a force more numerous than theirs 
induced deliberation. It was determined, consequently 
that the president and the captured army should be 
released and permitted to return to Mexico. 

One clause of the then formed treaty stipulated, " that 
the president Santa Anna, in his official character as 
chief of the Mexican nation, and the Generals Don 
Vicente Filasola, Don Jose Urrea, Don Joaquin Ramires 
de Sesma, and Don Antonio Guano, as chiefs of armies, 
do solemnly acknowledge, sanction, and ratify the full, 
entire, and perfect independence of Texas, with such 
boundaries as are hereafter set forth and agreed upon 
for the same. And they do solemnly pledge themselves, 
with all their personal and official attributes, to procure, 
without delay, the final and complete ratification and 
confirmation of this agreement, and all the parts thereof, 
by the proper and legitimate government of Mexico — 
by the incorporation of the same into a solemn and per- 
petual treaty of amity and commerce, to be negotiated 
with that government at the city of Mexico, by minis- 



SANTA ANNA. 173 

ters plenipotentiary, to be deputed by the government 
of Texas for this purpose." 

Santa Anna was permitted to visit Washington city, 
and was sent home in a man-of-war at the expense of the 
people of the United States. It need not be said that 
Mexico violated every promise made to Houston, under 
the plea that Santa Anna was in duress, and therefore not 
competent to act. 

It is a matter of surprise that the Texans did not 
shoot Santa Anna, and it cannot be denied they would 
have been justified in doing so. They acted, however, 
more humanely, and thus giving him his life. 

There is a story told by an interesting French writer 
in relation to this circumstance, which is altogether too 
epigrammatic to be true. " While the council of war dis- 
cussed the disposition to be made of the captive presi- 
dent, an old man rose and said : < We are at war with 
Mexico, and it is our duty to do all we can to injure her. 
Santa Anna has for a number of years tyrannized over 
his country, and nearly ruined it. Let us release him, 
he will return thither and in a few years Mexico will 
be too feeble to give us any trouble.' " 

It is probable that if Santa Anna had remained presi- 
dent after his return, this would have been the case. 

The difficulty with Texas was preceded by one 
with Zacatecas, already briefly referred to. This state 
also was devoted to the federal system, and had at its 
capital five thousand persons determined to defend the 
constitution. Santa Anna marched against them in per- 
son. When he reached Zacatecas, it was arranged that 
General Andrade should pretend to be disaflfected, and 
espouse the cause of the constitutionalists. The gov- 
ernor of the state being inexperienced in military affairs, 
willingly received him, and confided to him the com- 
8 



174 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

mand of the state troops. In a very short time Andrade 
marched his men outside the city and encamped in the 
plain, and at the same time detached his cavalry to some 
distance from the foot, whom he bade not to keep on 
the alert any longer, as he had no fear of an attack. 
The order was universally obeyed, except by the com- 
mander of the artillery, D^Harcourt, by birth a German, 
who still acted with all military precaution. Santa 
Anna, adroitly contrived to place himself between the 
forces of Zacatecas and the town, rendering their 
escape impossible, and commenced a fire on them. 
D'Harcourt fought manfully, and was near defeating 
him with his artillery. At last he was forced to give 
way, and the city was taken, when an indiscriminate 
massacre was ordered, in spite of the remonstrances of 
the Mexican officers. This beautiful city was thus 
nearly destroyed, and from it General Cos marched to 
Texas. 

The constitution, it will be remembered, was com- 
pleted during the absence of Santa Anna, who, while 
at the head of his army, was unable to assure those 
arrano-ements that would have secured him the con.rol 

D 

of the new government, which enured exclusively \-) 
the benefit of the last man whom he would ha'>e 
wished to benefit. After his expulsion in 1832, Gene- 
ral Bustamente had been in Europe, it is not improba- 
ble in want, certainly in dependence. It is doubtful if 
Mexico possesses a purer man than him, against whom 
even his enemies have not been able to make one allega- 
tion of dishonesty or peculation. Though he had long 
been in office, his salary was small, and for several months 
undrawn ; and he is said to have been so poor that he sold 
everything he possessed to pay his debts, including even 
his watch and cane, the latter of which was offered for sale 



SANTA ANNA. 175 

to Mr. W. Thompson, during his mission to Mexico. 
This anecdote, as Mr. T. says, recalls to mind the 
stories of those days in ancient Rome, when her dicta- 
tors were so poor as to require to be buried at the public 
expense. This is especially creditable to one who has 
been president of Mexico, where so little check is im- 
posed either by law or reputation, on the desire and man- 
ner of becoming rich. Bustamente was at once aware 
that the government, as proposed to be administered, 
could not last ; and had, in the early part of 1837, re- 
turned to Mexico. He was then elected president, and 
entered on his duties in May of that year. 

During the administration of Bustamente, Mexico 
became involved in a serious difficulty with France, 
arising from outrages on the persons and property of 
French citizens, at different periods since the revolu- 
tions. In the spring of 1838, the French government, 
wearied with making ineffectual demands for reparation, 
proposed the following ultimata^ which were placed in 
the hands of Admiral Baudin : The government of 
France required pecuniary reparation for all losses in- 
curred by Frenchmen, the dismissal of certain obnoxious 
functionaries, a concession that henceforth Frenchmen 
should enjoy the privileges of the most favored nations, 
and the restoration of the right of carrying on the retaiV 
trade. After some months spent in negotiation, the 
French admiral, on the 27th November, 1838, made 
an attack on the Castle of St. John de Uloa. 

In 1582, sixty-one years after they had set foot on 
Aztec soil, the Spaniards began this fortress, in order to 
confirm their power. The centre of the space which it 
occupies, is a small island, where the Spaniard, Juan 
de Grijalva, arrived one year before Cortes reached the 
Mexican continent. Having found the remains of two 



176 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

human victims there, they asked the natives why they 
sacrificed men to their idols, and receiving for answer, 
that it was by orders of the kings of Acolhua^ the 
Spaniards gave the island the name of Ulua, by a natu- 
ral corruption of that word. 

It is pretended that the fortress, cost four millions; 
and though this immense sura is no doubt an exaggera- 
tion, the expense must have been very great, when we 
consider that its foundations are below the water, and 
that for nearly three centuries it has resisted all the force 
of the stormy waves that continually beat against it. 
Many improvements and additions were gradually made 
to the castle ; and, in the time of the viceroys, a first- 
rate engineer paid it an annual visit, to ascertain its con- 
dition and to consider its best mode of defence, in case 
of an attack. In 1603, however. Vera Cruz was sacked 
by the English corsair, Nicholas Agramont, incited by 
one Lorencillo, who had been condemned to death for 
murder in Vera Cruz, and had escaped to Jamaica. 
Seven millions of dollars were carried off, besides three 
hundred persons of both sexes, whom the pirates aban- 
doned in the Island of Sacrificios, when they re-em- 
barked. 

In 1771, the viceroy, then the Marquis de la Croix, 
remitted a million and a half of dollars to the gover- 
nor, in order that he might put the castle in a state of 
defence ; and the strong bulwarks which still remain, 
attest the labor that has been bestowed upon it. The 
outer polygon, which looks towards Vera Cruz, is three 
hundred yards in extent ; to the north it is defended by 
another of two hundred yards, whilst a low battery is 
situated as a rear guard in the bastion of Santiago ; and 
on the opposite front is the battery of San Miguel. The 
whole fortress is composed of a stone which abounds in 



SANTA ANNA. 177 

the neighboring island, a species of coral, excellent for 
building, piedra mucara. 

In 1822, no stronghold of Spanish power remained 
but this castle, whose garrison was frequently reinforced 
by troops from Havana. Vera Cruz itself was then in- 
habited by wealthy and influential Spaniards. Santa 
Anna then commanded in the province, under the 
orders of Echavarri, the captain-general, and with in- 
structions from Iturbide, relative to the taking of the 
castle. The commandant was the Spanish general 
Don Jose Davila. It was not, however, till the follow- 
ing year, when Lemaur succeeded Davila in the com- 
mand of the citade], that hostilities were begun by bom- 
barding Vera Cruz. 

Men, women and children, then abandoned the city. 
The merchants went to Alvarado, twelve leagues off, 
whilst those who were driven from their houses by a 
shower of balls, sought a miserable asylum amongst the 
burning plains and miserable huts in the environs. 
Some made their way to Jalapa, thirty leagues off; 
others to Cordova and Orizava, equally distant. With 
some interruptions, hostilities lasted two years, during 
which there was nearly a constant firing from the city to 
the castle, and from the castle to the city. 

The object of General Barragan, now commander- 
in-chief, was to cut off all communication between the 
garrison of the castle and the coasts, and to reduce them 
to live solely upon salt provisions, fatal in this w^arm and 
unhealthy country. In 1824, the garrison, diminished to 
a mere handful, was replaced by five hundred men from 
the peninsula ; and very soon these soldiers, shut up on 
the barren rocks, surrounded by water, and exposed to 
the dangers of the climate, without provisions and with- 
out assistance, were reduced to the most miserable con- 
12 



178 ME^KICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

(lition. The next year, Don Jose Copinger succeedec? 
Lemaur, and continued hostilities with fresh vigor. 

This brave general, with his valiant troops, sur- 
rounded by the sick and the dying, provisions growing 
scarcer every day, and those that remained corrupt and 
unfit to eat, yet resolved to do his duty, and hold out to 
the last. . No assistance arrived from Spain. A Mexi- 
can fleet was stationed off the Island of Sacrificios and 
other points, to attack any squadron that might come 
from thence ; while the north winds blew with violence, 
keeping back all ships that might approach the coasts. 
"Gods and men," says a zealous republican (Zavala), 
<<the Spaniards had to contend with; having against 
them, hunger, sickness, the fire and balls of the enemies, 
a furious sea covered with reefs, a burning atmosphere, 
and above all, being totally ignorant as to whether they 
should receive any assistance." 

The minister of the treasury, Estevan, then came 
from Mexico, and proposed a capitulation; and the 
Spanish general agreed that should no assistance arrive 
within a certain time, he would give up the fortress ; 
evacuating it with his whole garrison, and with the suit- 
able honors. The Spanish succors arrived a few days 
before the term was expired, but the commander of the 
squadron, seeing the superiority in point of numbers of 
the Mexican fleet, judged it prudent to return to Ha- 
vana to augment his forces. But it was too late. On 
the 15th of September, the brave General Copinger, 
with the few troops that remained to him, marched out 
of the fortress, terminating the final struggle against the 
progress of revolution, but upholding to the last the 
character for constancy and valor which distinguished 
the sons of ancient Spain. 

Of its last assault by the French squadron in 1838, 



SANTA ANNA. 179 

there is no need to say anything. Every newspaper 
gave an account of the capitulation of what the French 
gazettes called San Juan de Ulua, the St. Jean d'Acre 
of the new world, which sailors of the gulf saluted as 
* the Queen of the Seas and bulwark of Mexico. 

For two years after his return from the United States, 
Santa Anna was apparently forgetful and forgotten at 
Mango de Clavo, during all that had been taking place, 
but was aroused by the echoes of the French artillery, 
then directed against the previously impregnable fortress 
of San Juan de Ulloa. He hurried to Vera Cruz, where 
he found an appointment of military commander, from 
the authorities at Mexico, already awaited him. He 
was unable to prevent the capture of the castle, which 
was, it has been stated, almost in a dismantled condi- 
tion, but was far more successful on the main-land. 
The French admiral, Baudin, having possessed himself 
of the former, resolved to make a demonstration against 
Vera Cruz, and at five o'clock in the morning des- 
patched an expedition, in which the Prince de Joinville 
participated, to the city. The day chanced to be foggy 
and damp, so that it was impossible for the boats from t e 
vessels to keep together, and also for the people of the 
town to discover them, two circumstances which com- 
pensated the one for the other. The French landed; 
but Santa Anna, who was in bed, soon rallied a force 
sufficient to beat back the invaders. During the retreat, 
however, hotly pursued as they were, a sailor dis- 
charged a cannon which chanced to point towards the 
Mexicans, by which Santa Anna was unfortunate enough 
to lose his leg. This attempt on the city was sufficient 
to satisfy the admiral, that if he had stumbled on success 
in his attack on the castle, his force was far too feeble 
to make any impression even on Vera Cruz. 



180 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

Both parties, however, had now seen enough of the 
"horrors of war,'' to give great attention to the media- 
tion proposed by Mr. Packenham, who most oppor- 
tunely arrived with an English fleet ; by whose influence 
or the persuasive effect of the British guns, France was 
induced to lower her demands nearly two hundred thou- 
sand dollars, and did not longer insist on the retail trade 
being allowed to her citizens. In the events of this war, 
a conspicuous part was borne by the Prince de Joinville, 
a younger son of Louis Phillippe, who was the nominal 
commander of one of the French vessels employed in 
the attack. On this part of the history, it is scarcely 
necessary to dwell, as the events are so recent as to 
be remembered by all. It is one of the evils attendant 
on the exercise of authority in countries like Mexico, 
that all the mischances of war are attributed to the 
mis-government of the chief authorities, and President 
Bustamente, was heavily visited for this attack dictated 
by the French king's cupidity and desire of pandering 
to the false ambition of his subjects. 

Santa Anna subsequently remained at his estate, and 
Bustamente occupied the executive chair, without, how- 
ever, being unaware that there were around him elements 
of contention, which, sooner or later, must break out. 
On<the 15th of July, 1840, a revolution arose in the 
city of Mexico, which was forcibly taken possession of 
by the federalists. General Urrea, who had been impri- 
soned by the government, w^as released by his adherents, 
headed by Gomez Farias, who surprised the palace and 
imprisoned the president. After a fight of twelve days, 
in which three hundred men were killed and wounded 
in the streets of the capital, the insurgents were forced 
to yield to Governor Valencia, who arrived with a rein- 
forcement of troops; and on the 27th of July, they 



SANTA ANNA. 181 

capitulated, on condition, among other things, that Va- 
lencia would use his influence to bring about a reform 
in the constitution, and that all acts of the malcontents 
should be buried in oblivion. The outbreak was not 
attended with any unusual degree of excess, property 
having been on both sides respected. General Busta- 
mente again resumed the direction of affairs, and Santa 
Anna, who had been recalled from Perote, quietly re- 
turned thither. While, however, at Mexico, he man- 
aged to arrange his various schemes, so that on the 31st 
of August another revolution broke out. Valencia, 
who but two months before had opposed the insurrec- 
tion of Farias and Urrea, now pronounced against Busta- 
mente, whom he had till then defended in the most posi- 
tive manner. As all the subsequent history of Mexico 
hinges on this revolution, if that title can be applied to 
the substitution of one chieftain for another, it may not 
be improper to reproduce the various documents, w^hich 
we take from the admirable letters generally attributed 
to Madame Calderon de la Barca, whose husband, then 
in the capital, was the first Spanish ambassador ever 
sent to Mexico, Spain having for a series of years most 
strenuously refused to acknowledge the independence of 
that tributary which had so long acknowledged the au- 
thority of her kings. 

" Soldiers ! The despotism of the Mexican govern- 
ment, the innumerable evils which the nation suffers, 
the unceasing remonstrances which have been made 
against these evils, and which have met with no at- 
tention, have forced us to take a step this evening, 
which is not one of rebellion, but is the energetic 
expression of our resolution to sacrifice everything to. 
the common good and interest. The cause which we 
defend is that of all Mexicans ; of the rich as of the 
8* 



182 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

poor ; of the soldier as of the civilian. We want a 
country, a government, the felicity of our homes, and 
respect from without ; and we shall obtain all ; let us 
not doubt it. " The nation will be moved by our ex- 
ample. The arms which our country has given us for 
her defence, we shall know how to employ in restoring 
her honor — an honor which the government has stained 
b}^ not acknowledging the total absence of morality and 
energy in the actual authorities. The army which 
made her independent shall also render her powerful 
and free. The illustrious General Santa Anna to-day 
marches to Puebla, at the head of our heroic com- 
panions of Vera Cruz, while upon Queretaro, already 
united to the valiant General Paredes, the brave 
General Cortazar now begins his operations. 

" In a few days we shall see the other forces of the 
republic in motion, all co-operating to the same end. 
The triumph is secure, my friends, and the cause which 
we proclaim is so noble, that, conquerors, we shall be 
covered with glory ; and, happen what may, we shall 
be honored by our fellows-citizens." 

This proclamation was signed by General Valencia. 
The secret of this was, that events had been so arranged 
by Santa Anna that the revolution must occur, and Va- 
lencia having become aware of this, determined to take 
such a stand that he would be like the occupant of a 
manor in dispute, in possession, and force two other 
litigants to bid for the key, that the ejectment might be 
brought against, not by him. In Mexico, as well as 
elsewhere, possession is nine points of the law, and the 
importance of Valencia's movement will therefore be 
understood at once. 

Paredes, in the interim, marched from Guadalajara 
upon Guanajuato, and there General Cortazar, just pro- 



SANTA ANNA. 183 

lEoted by Bustamente for his courage in resisting Farias 
and Urrea, proved traitor and sided with Paredes. The 
two united, advanced on Queretaro, where Juvera sided 
with them, having previously pronounced hy accident, 
just before they received orders to march to assist the 
president. The united forces of the three now advanced 
towards Mexico, where Valencia was still persisting that 
he asked nothing for himself but only the good of the 
country, and required the deposition of Bustamente. 

Santa Anna still remained at Perote, and Bustamente 
was in the city with Canalizo and Almonte, making head 
against the revolters. An intelligent Frenchman who 
was in Mexico during this scene, and subsequently tra- 
velled in the United States, thus explained this game of 
cross purposes. Santa Anna, while in Mexico in July, 
corrupted all these generals. Almonte, one of his inti- 
mates, who has been said to be a relation, w^as gefe del 
piano mayor, or general staff of the president, and thus 
it occurred that all things contributed to the fall of Bus- 
tamente. 

xA.fter several days of threats, and marchings and coun- 
ter-marchings in the capital, Santa Anna wrote that Bus- 
tamente had repeatedly violated the constitution, and 
that he would therefore come immediately to Mexico. 
The people generally began to desire his presence, as 
shells passing from the quarters of Valencia to the na- 
tional palace, were destroying the most beautiful part of 
the city. On the 19th of September, how^ever, Torrejon, 
who had kept Santa Anna in check, was ordered to the 
city, and Bustamente placed himself at the bead of the 
forces thus obtained and those commanded by Canalizo 
and Almonte, consequently leaving Echavarri at the head 
of the government. Santa Anna immediately set out for 
Mexico, taking possession on the way of Puebla ; he re? 



184 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

ceived large reinforcements on the march, so that his 
ragamufiins had increased into an army of respectable 
size. It was then evident that danger to the government 
was to be expected not from him alone, but from 
Paredes. Strangely enough, however, the president at 
the head of his troops, with Canalize and Norriega, had 
marched to meet Paredes, leaving Almonte and Echa- 
varri in Mexico, to act in his stead. After some delay 
the president met Paredes, and after an interview, left 
him for the seat of government, in which direction 
Paredes also moved on the 27th. 

Santa Anna was not, during the last four or five days 
idle. He too had been marching, and after an interview 
with the commissioners from the president, met Almonte 
on the 27th. What transpired between the two is a 
mystery, except when the latter left, Santa Anna said 
simply, '« Es hueno muchacho " — he is a good boy. 

On the 28th, Paredes, Valencia, and Santa Anna 
met at the palace of the archbishop, at Tacubaya, the 
result of which conference was the following plan formed 
on the 29th, consisting of thirteen articles, by which are 
established the following pacts, not one of them seeming 
to look to a principle. 

The first declared — It is the will of the nation that the 
supreme powers established by the constitution of 1836 
have ceased, excepting the judicial, which will be limited 
in il3 functions to matters purely judicial, conformably to 
the existing laws. 

The second — A Junta is to be named, composed of 
two deputies from each department, elected by his ex- 
cellency the commander-in-chief of the Mexican army, 
Don Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, in order that they 
may be entirely free to point out the person who is to 
hold the executive power, provisionally. 



SANTA ANNA. 185 

The third — This person is immediately to assume 
the executive power, taking an oath in the presence of 
the junta, to act for the welfare of the nation. 

The fourth — The provisional executive power shall 
in two months evoke a new congress, which, with ample 
powers, shall engage to re-constitute the nation, as ap- 
pears most suitable to them. 

The fifth — This congress extraordinary shall reunite 
in six months after it is convened, and shall solely 
occupy itself in forming the constitution. 

The sixth^ — The provisional executive shall answer 
for its acts, before the first constitutional congress. 

The seventh — The provisional executive shall have 
all the powers necessary for the organization of all the 
branches of the public administration. 

The eighth — Four ministers shall be named; of 
foreign and home relations ; of public instruction and 
industry; of treasury; and of war and marine. 

The ninth^ — Each department is to have two trust- 
worthy individuals to form a council, w^hich shall give 
judgment in all matters on which they may be consulted 
by the executive. 

The tenth — Till this council is named, the junta will 
fulfil its functions. 

The eleventh — Till the republic is organized, the 
authorities in the departments which have not opposed, 
and will not oppose the national w^ill, shall continue. 

The twelfth — The general-in-chief and all the other 
generals, promise to forget all the political conduct of 
military men or citizens during the present crisis. 

The thirteenth — When three days have passed after 
the expiration of the present truce, if the general-in-chief 
of the government does not adopt these bases, their ac- 
comphshment w'lW be proceeded with ; and they declare 



186 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

in the name of the nation, that this general and all the 
troops who follow him, and all the so-called authorities 
which counteract this national will, shall be held responsi- 
ble for all the Mexican blood that may be uselessly shed ; 
and which shall be upon their heads." 

Strange as had been the scenes of this drama, the de- 
nouement was yet stranger, Bustamente pronouncing on 
the 30th in favor of the federal system. During four 
months the Mexican republic had undergone two revo- 
lutions, and at the end of that time found itself under a 
military dictatorship ; in relation to which we can but 
say, what all must confess, that a people who will submit 
to such a state of things, deserve no better. 

Canalize and Almonte soon followed the example of 
Bustamente, and left Santa Anna uncontrolled. After 
seven days of perpetual cannonading, the president did 
what he should have done, when he pronounced for 
federation, resigned, and Santa Anna entered Mexico. 
The people who had not sustained the president were, 
how^ever, too obstinate to welcome their conqueror ; and 
Madame Calderon says, he entered the city sternly and 
silently, and after a Te Deum, at which the archbishop 
officiated, retired to the palace of that dignitary at 
Tacubaya, which he preferred to the national palace at 
Mexico. Perhaps in this he was prudent ; a new re- 
volution might have unseated him; and a president in 
Mexico is always formidable as long as he is unchecked 
by bolts and bars. A conviction of this probably in- 
duced Alaman to shoot the brave Guerrero. 

Valencia and Pa redes had each governments offered 
them, but the former refused to leave his division, w^hich 
had enabled him to play the part, on a small scale, of 
the Warwick king-makers. 

The new ministry were : Gomez Pedraza, for foreign 



SANTA ANNA. 



187 



and home relations; Castillo, for public instruction; 
Tornel, for war and marine ; and Dufoo, for the treasury. 
Paredes, too, insisted on keeping his command, and the 
only person who seems to have reaped any advantage 
was Santa Anna. All who know Mexico, however, say 
that on account of this revolution various indemnities 
were not paid, and Mexican bonds were far below par 
in London and New York. Soon after this revolution 
Mr. Thompson arrived in Mexico, and states that he 
heard from all, that Bustamente was one of the purest 
men who as yet had occupied the Mexican executive 
chair. If so, why was he not able to retain his power ? 
The Mexican people were opposed to him because they 
were unworthy of him, and Santa Anna was his enemy 
because he could not make him his instrument. General 
Bustamente retired at once to Guadalupe, and soon after 
left Mexico. 

Santa Anna was now dictator. How completely he 
had possession of Mexico the following extract from a 
letter pubhshed in a Boston paper in November 1842, 
will show : 

"Mexico, Sept. 28th. — Yesterday was buried, with 
great pomp and solemnity, in the cemetery of St. Paul, 
the foot which his excellency. President Santa Anna, lost 
m the action of the 5th of December, 1838. It was 
deposited in a monument erected for the purpose, Don 
Ignacio Sierra y Roza having pronounced a funeral dis- 
course appropriate to the subject."* 

Santa Anna w^as, during this time, dictator in the fullest 
sense of the term ; a power conferred on him by a vote 



* Afterwards, when Santa Anna was exiled, this honored 
member was exhumed, and dragged through the streets with 
shouts of derision by the leper os. 



188 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

of the congress of Mexico, until a constitution had been 
formed. For the first time in the history of the world, 
the people requested him to terminate the legislative ses- 
sions of that congress which was the guarantee of their 
rights. In the December of the same year, the presi- 
dent complied w4th their requests, and convened, in the 
place of the congress, a jimta of notables, to prepare a 
new constitution. The result of their dehberations was, 
not a new constitution, for they dared not apply that 
name to their monster generation, but the Bases of the 
political organization of the Mexican Republic, pro- 
claimed June 13, 1843. The following were some of 
the provisions of this instrument : — 

Slavery is for ever prohibited. 

The liberty of the press is guarantied ; a guarantee, 
however, purely theoretical : it is no more free than in 
France, nor as free. 

Equally theoretical is the provision that no one shall 
be arrested but by the authority of law. 

No taxes to be imposed but by the legislative au- 
thority. 

Private property not to be taken for public uses but 
with just compensation. 

Mexicans to be preferred for public offices to 
strangers, if their qualifications are equal. 

Persons who have attained the age of eighteen years 
are entitled to the rights of citizens, if married ; if un- 
married, twenty-one years ; and who have an annual 
income of two hundred dollars, either from labor or the 
profits of capital. 

After the year 1850, those only are to exercise the 
privileges of a citizen who can read and write. 

By becoming a domestic servant, the privileges of a 
citizen are suspended : so, also, pending a criminal pro- 



SANTA ANNA. 189 

secution, being a habitual drunkard or gambler, a va- 
grant, or keeping a gaming-house. 

The rights of citizenship are lost by conviction of an 
infamous crime, or for fraudulent bankruptcy, or by 
malversation in any public office. 

The legislative power is composed of a house of 
deputies and a senate ; one deputy for every seventy 
thousand inhabitants. A supernumerary deputy shall 
be elected in all cases to serve in the absence of the 
regular deputy. 

The age prescribed for members of congress is thirty 
years. They must have an annual income of twelve 
hundred dollars. One-half of the members to be re 
elected every two years. 

The senate is composed of sixty-three members, two- 
thirds of whom are to be elected by the departmental 
assemblies ; the other third by the house of deputies, 
the president of the republic, and the supreme court ; 
each department to vote for forty-three persons, and 
those having the highest number of votes of the aggre- 
gate of all the departmental assemblies are elected sena- 
tors. The judges of the supreme court and the presi- 
dent shall vote in like manner for the remaining third ; 
and out of the names thus voted for by each of those 
departments of the government, the house of deputies 
selects the proper number (twenty-one). The first 
selection of this third of the senators to be made by the 
president (Santa Anna) alone. 

The president of the republic and judges of the 
supreme court are required to vote only for such per- 
sons as have distinguished themselves by important 
public services, civil, miHtary, or ecclesiastical. Amongst 
others disqualified from being elected members of the 



190 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINSK 

house of deputies, are the archbishops, bishops, and 
other high ecclesiastical officers. 

The senators elected by the departments are required 
to be five agriculturists, and the same number of each 
of the following occupations — miners, merchants, and 
manufacturers : the remainder to be elected from persons 
who have filled the office of president, minister of state, 
foreign minister, governor of a department, senator, 
deputy, bishop, or general of division. The age of a 
senator is thirty-five years, and an annual income of two 
thousand dollars is required. 

One-third of the senate to be renewed every three 
years. 

All laws must originate in the house of deputies. 

All treaties must be approved by both houses of con- 
gress. Congress has a veto upon all the decrees of the 
departmental assemblies which are opposed to the con- 
stitution or the laws of congress. 

Congress are forbidden to alter the laws laying duties 
on imports which are intended for the protection of do- 
mestic industry. 

No retrospective law or laws impairing the obligation 
of contracts to be passed. 

The senate to approve the president's nomination of 
foreign ministers, consuls, and of officers in the army 
above the rank of colonel. 

Members of congress not to receive executive appoint- 
ments except with certain limitations, amongst which is 
the consent of the body to which they belong. 

The other powers of congress are nearly the same as 
in our own or other popular constitutions. The presi- 
dent must be a native of the country, and a layman, and 
holds his office for the term of ^five years. It is made 



SANTA ANNA. 191 

his duty to supervise the courts of justice, and he may 
prescribe the order in which cases shall be tried. He 
may impose fines, not exceeding five hundred dollars, 
upon those who disobey his lawful commands. Certain 
large powers are conferred upon him in relation to con- 
cordats, bulls, decrees, and other ecclesiastical matters. 
He possesses a very quahfied veto upon the acts of con- 
gress. He may call an extra session of congress, and 
prescribe the only subjects to be considered. The pre- 
sident not to exercise any military command without 
the consent of congress. Not to leave the repubhc 
during his term of ofl&ce, nor for one year after its expi- 
ration, but with the consent of congress, nor to go 
more than six leagues from the capital, without the like 
permission. He shall in no case alienate, exchange, or 
mortgage any portion of the territory of the republic. 
All his acts must be approved by the secretary of the 
department to which it properly belongs. He cannot 
be prosecuted criminally, except for treason against 
the national independence, or the form of government 
established by the constitution during his term of ofifice, 
nor for one year afterwards. 

During the temporary absence of the president, his 
functions devolve upon the president of the senate ; if 
his absence continues longer than fifteen days, a presi- 
dent ad interim shall be elected by the senate. The 
other grants of power to the executive seem to be pretty 
much copied from our own constitution. 

The different secretaries may attend the sessions of 
either branch of congress, w^henever required by them, 
or so ordered by the president, to give any explana- 
tions which may be desired. The secretaries are 
responsible for all acts of the president in violation 



192 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CmEFTAINS. 

of the constitution and laws which they may have 
approved. 

The council of the president consists of seventeen 
members, selected by himself. These councillors must 
be thirty-five years old, and have served at least ten 
years, without intermission, in some public station. 

The judges of the supreme court must be forty 
years old. 

The government may be impleaded in this court by 
any individual (I think a wise and just provision) ; as 
may also the archbishops and bishops in particular 
cases. 

A permanent court-martial is also organized, com- 
posed of generals and lawyers, appointed by the pre- 
sident. 

Each department has an assembly of not more than 
eleven, nor less than seven members. Their powers are 
to impose taxes for the use of the department ; establish 
schools and charitable institutions ; make roads and keep 
them in order ; arrange the mode of raising troops which 
may be required of the department ; establish corpora- 
tions, superintend the police, and encourage agriculture ; 
propose laws to the congress, and fit persons to the pre- 
sident for the office of governor of the department (from 
the persons thus recommended, the president, except in 
extraordinary cases, must make the selection) ; establish 
judicial tribunals for their departments, with many other 
powers of a similar character; and constituting the 
assembly a sort of state legislature, with jurisdiction of 
matters appertaining strictly to the department. 

The whole republic is divided into sections of five 
hundred inhabitants. Each of these sections selects by 
ballot one elector. These electors in turn elect others. 






SANTA ANNA. 193 

in the ratio of one for every twenty of the electors thus 
primarily elected. These last constitute the electoral 
college of the department, which again elect the depu- 
ties of the general congress, and the members of the 
departmental assembly. All persons who have attained 
the age of twenty-five years, are eligible as primary 
electors. The secondary electors must also have an 
income of five hundred dollars a year. On the first of 
November preceding the expiration of the term of office 
of the president, each of the departmental assemblies is 
required to meet and cast their votes for his successor. 
A majority of the votes of this assembly decides the 
vote of the department. On the second day of January, 
both houses of congress assemble together and declare 
the election. If no one has received the votes of a ma- 
jority of the departments, the two houses of congress 
make the election from the two who have received the 
greatest number of votes. If more than two have an 
equal number of votes, the election is made from those 
who have received such equal number. If one has re- 
ceived a higher number, and two others have received 
a less and equal number of votes, congress selects, by 
ballot, one of these last to compete with him who has 
received a higher number. This election is required to 
be finished in a single session. 

In cases of a tie a second time in these elections, the 
choice is to be made by lot. 

Punishments shall in no case extend to confiscation 
of property, or to attainder. 

No cruel punishment shall be inflicted in capital 
cases, only such as are necessary to take life. 

The judges are responsible for any irregularities or 
mistakes in their official proceedings. They hold their 
offices for life. 
13 



194 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

Amendments of the constitution to be made by a vote 
of two-thirds of both branches of congress. 

The Cathohc religion is estabUshed to the exclusion 
of all others. Most of the other provisions of the consti- 
tution seem to be almost exactly copied from that of the 
United States. 

Santa Anna was inaugurated under this instrument, 
January 1, 1841. 

This is by no means a constitution, but is calculated 
to give an idea of Mexico far more exalted than any 
generally entertained. It could scarcely be expected 
that a people just emerged from civil war would be able 
to provide for all things, and foresee all difficulties ; but 
it will appear that most of the requisitions of society 
have at least been remembered. 

This may be considered as the realization of the 
schemes of which Santa Anna sketched the outlines 
when he achieved the revolution which deposed Bus- 
tamente. Thus again did this chieftain succeed in 
fastening on the people the central system, which revo- 
lution after revolution had each time seemed to throw^ 
off. It was his work only, and he only is responsible 
for its effects. The people, however, seemed satisfied 
with it ; and the reason is, that the people in Mexico 
are few in numbers, while the populace is immense ; 
and that all power was collected in the hands of a very 
small number of that people. No one, we fancy, will 
call Mexico a republic, or Santa Anna a patriot, as 
Mr. Thompson says he is not a model man, but he is a 
great one. He has outlived all his early associates, 
while every man who began life with him is either dead 
or in exile. He rides above the storm, the very 
heavings of which he fashions to his will. 

The condition of Mexico at the present day recalls a 



SANTA ANNA. 195 

passage of one of the letters of Jacopo Ortiz, in relation 
to his own Italy, at the commencement of the present 
century : 

" Italy," says he, " has soldiers, but they are not 
her defenders ; she has friars and monks, who are not 
priests ; she has counts and marquises, but no nobility ; 
and a populace, but not a people." To create this 
was the mission of the Italian patriots, who failed 
in driving the strangers from her soil ; which the 
Mexicans have already achieved for themselves. The 
world has hopes of Italy, w^hich yet wTithes beneath 
the heel of the Austrian ; why should it not be hopeful 
of Mexico, on the soil of which the Spaniard has not 
stood for twenty years ? 

Canalizo, it will be remembered, w^as the confidant 
of Bustamente when Paredes w^ent over to Valencia on 
his attacking the president, to whom he had made such 
professions of attachment in July, 1842. Even after 
the resignation of Bustamente, Canalizo held out for 
some time with but three hundred men, and by his valor 
won the name of ^' El Lion de Mejico.'^ As soon as 
all was settled, Santa Anna determined, Richelieu-like, 
to blot him from the list of his enemies by favors, and 
appointed him in his absence president ad interim ; an 
exhibition of shrewdness which subsequent events have 
proved prudent. With Valencia he soon quarrelled, and 
stripped him of his command, and caused Paredes to be 
arrested at Tula. Paredes was a resident of Guadala- 
jara, a district represented as the best in Mexico in point 
of w^ealth, the cultivation of its lands, and information 
of its inhabitants ; and having been permitted to return 
thither, he set about the organization of his friends, so 
that it became obvious he w^as about to pronounce on the 
first opportunity. Santa Anna too, it is probable, became 



196 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

aware of this, and, anxious to remove him from the scene 
of his influence, called him to Mexico, and in terms of 
the greatest conciHation appointed him to the govern- 
ment of Sonora and Sinaloa. On passing through Gua- 
dalajara, the friends of Paredes flew to arms, and a pro- 
nunciamento was made, which resulted in the downfall 
of Santa Anna. The affair at the very beginning looked 
so dangerous that Santa Anna, contrary to one of the pro- 
visions of the Organic Bases, placed himself at the head 
of the troops in the capital, leaving Canalizo to manage 
the government, and marched to suppress the outbreak. 
Before, however, he had advanced far on the route, the 
provinces near the capital also pronounced, and he was 
forced to return to the city, where Canalizo was alto- 
gether unable to manage his numerous opponents. 
The pronunciamento of Paredes complained of the dis- 
organization of the army, the dilapidation of the finances, 
entire disorder in all departments of the government, 
and the failure of the various expeditions against Texas, 
solely on account of the incompetency or neglect of the 
president. He concluded this manifesto with a demand 
thai all acts of Santa Anna between the 16th of Oc- 
tober, 1840, and the end of 1843, should be submitted 
to the approval of the supreme congress, and the pre- 
sident, in the meantime, be suspended from his glorious 
functions of Chief Magistrate of Mexico . Santa Anna 
has always handled the pen as readily as the sword, and 
addressed a proclamation to his army, in which he ap- 
pealed to their sense of duty, and called on them to 
support him. The civil war spread through Jalisco, 
Aguas-calientes, Queretaro, San Luis de Potosi, and Za- 
catecas, all of which openly declared against Santa Anna. 
Nor was this all. General Alvarez, who commanded 
in the southern departments, also pronounced, and the 



SANTA ANNA. 197 

disaffection became general. The first act of Paredes 
was to suspend the imposts levied for the ostensible pur- 
pose of invading Texas, which had long been very- 
obnoxious. Vera Cruz finally began to show signs of 
revolt, which, however, were suppressed by General 
Quixano. 

Things might have remained in this condition for a 
long time, but on the 2d of December, 1844, Canalizo, 
the president ad interim, assumed the responsibility of 
closing the session of congress, and of declaring Santa 
Anna dictator. For some days, this palpable violation 
of the constitution apparently attracted but little atten- 
tion, but on its being reported at Puebla, the command- 
er-in-chief also pronounced against Santa Anna. On the 
5th, the garrison and people of the city cast off their 
torpor, and imprisoned Canalizo and his ministers. The 
congress immediately assembled and appointed General 
Herrera president pro tempore. A new ministry was ap- 
pointed by Herrera, to the authority of which the whole 
country, including Vera Cruz, the strong-hold of Santa 
Anna, at once yielded obedience. The new ministry 
was composed of Herrera, president of the cabinet and 
depository of the executive power; Gonzago Cuevas, 
minister of foreign affairs ; Mariano Riva Palacios, min- 
ister of justice ; Pedro Jesus Echavarri, minister of 
finances; and Pedro Garcia Conde, of war and marine. 

Santa Anna was left almost alone at Queretaro, with a 
few troops, already wavering in their attachment, in conse- 
quence of an appeal of Garcia Conde, who bade them 
leave Santa Anna and participate in the advantages of the 
new regime. Santa Anna was, it will be remembered, 
deposed from the command, and finally, by the proclama- 
tion of Garcia Conde, referred to above, was notified 
that he still was the constitutional president, and, as such, 
9 



198 MEXICO AND HEK MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

debarred from command without the consent of con- 
gress. His situation thus become drear enough, and it 
was obvious his chance of regaining power must continue 
slight, unless some great crisis should occur in which 
his one idea, self, might have an opportunity to under- 
mine the many-phased Mexican republic. 

Santa Anna was a man for great emergencies, and 
sought out of the " nettle danger to pluck the flower 
safety," by a coup de main against the capital; when, 
however, within sight of the city, these men declared 
against him. He then proceeded towards Vera Cruz, 
whence he was also repulsed. It was now obvious to 
him that all was over, as he was deserted by the 
remnant of his troops, except about two thousand five 
hundred men of all arms. He, however, made an attack 
on Puebla, from which he was repulsed, and fled to San 
Antonio, with one thousand horse. He fled thence at 
night towards Encerro almost alone, but was recognised 
by a party of Indians at Mico, three leagues from Jalapa, 
detained, and subsequently surrendered to the com- 
mander of the neighboring city. He addressed, on the 
,22d of January, a most humiliating petition to the con- 
gress, in which he adopts the European maxim, that Uxe 
king can do no wrong, and offered to substitute his ruia- 
isters for himself to fulfil the requisitions of justice. His 
address stated ''that after the many privations and mor- 
tifications to which he had been subjected, he presumed 
they would be satisfied in awarding no other penalty 
against him than perpetual exile." 

His address contained this remarkable passage : 
"Napoleon, after having outraged all Europe, was 
exiled to Saint Helena, and France, over whom he had 
long tyrannized, thought herself sufficiently avenged. 
My services have not equalled his, but I have the 



SANTA ANNA. 199 

advantage over him in other respects. I can show by 
my mutilated body, that I have suffered for Mexico. 
The august chambers will then, accept my solemn abdi- 
cation of the presidency, and permit me to assume eter- 
nal exiUy It was generally supposed in Mexico, that 
congress would confiscate his property, especially as 
it became generally known that from apprehension of 
some such difficulty, he had sent eight thousand doub- 
loons (one hundred and twenty-eight thousand dol- 
lars) by a previous packet to Havana, and had also 
invested in European funds, more than one million of 
dollars. 

The congress continued to debate on its course in 
this crisis, and the friends of Santa Anna rallied around 
him, so that at one time, it became probable he would 
be able to resume his power. In the long intrigues 
which took place, he was ably sustained by Almonte, 
but was, on a final vote, banished for ten years. He 
was also stripped of a great portion of his money, his 
estate being suffered to remain in the hands of his 
administrador or agent. This occurred during the early 
part of June, 1845, and he immediately embarked on 
board of the English steamer Medway, in the river An- 
tigua, about twelve miles north of Vera Cruz, accom- 
panied only by his wife, a young woman of fortune, of 
about sixteen years of age, whom he had married not 
long previously, his nephew and a few personal friends. 
A general amnesty was then proclaimed, and congress, 
by a large vote, authorized the conclusion of a treaty 
recognising the independence of Texas, provided it 
should not become annexed to the United States. 
Santa Anna immediately left the country for Havana, 
and it appeared probable that Mexico would at length 
be at peace. 



200 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

There Santa Anna remained, until by the events of the 
existing war he was, by the unanimous voice of the 
Mexican people, recalled, and immediately restored to 
power. 

On his return to Vera Cruz, he published a proclama- 
tion so strange in itself, but so curious, both as a 
demonstration of the manner in which he has ever led 
the Mexican people, that it w^ill not be considered 
irrelevant, in spite of its length, to reprint it. 

Vera Cruz, August 16, 1846. 

Mexicans : Called by the people and the garrisons 
of the departments of Jalisco, Yera Cruz, and Sinaloa, 
South Mexico, and other points of the repubhc, I 
quitted Havana on the 8th inst., at nine in the evening, 
with the sole object of coming to aid you in saving our 
country from its enemies, internal and external. Great 
has been my joy, when, on arriving at this point, I 
learned that the former had been overthrown by your 
own forces ; and that I was already proclaimed, on all 
sides, as general-in-chief of the liberating army. A 
proof of so much confidence will be met by me with the 
utmost loyalty ; but on accepting the plan proclaimed, 
allow me to enter into some explanation, which I 
consider necessary, in order to dispel any suspicions 
founded on a past, the recollections of which are so 
painful to me. 

Desiring to consolidate peace in the interior of the 
repubhc, in order to make it flourish and prosper, and 
to assure by that means the integrity of our immense 
territory, I devoted all my efforts, in consequence of the 
events of 1834, to establish an administration endowed 
with vigor and energy, and capable of keeping dow^n 
the spirit of turbulence and discord. Without ever 



SANTA ANNA. 201 

going beyond republican forms, I endeavored for this 
purpose to support myself on property, on high position, 
on creeds, and even on the few historical memorials 
existing in our country ; hoping thus to moderate, by 
the inertia of conservative instincts, the vehemence of 
popular masses. But without ascendancy and prestige, 
as I was, and the elements assembled by me being 
viewed with distrust, resistance was made on all sides ; 
which I, however, expected to overcome in time. I 
call on God to witness, that in this I acted with 
patriotism, with sincerity, and with good faith. 

After some years of trial, I began to remark that 
the republic did not advance; that some departments 
showed tendencies of separation from the others ; and 
that the public discontent was daily increasing. — 
Wavering then in my convictions, they afterwards lost 
all their power, when a part of the country had been 
occupied by strangers, and our national existence of the 
whole was endangered. I called on the people to the 
rescue, and they answered me with threats ; as if any other 
misfortune could have been preferable to that in which 
the country then was placed. Urged by the firm 
determination that we should be a sovereign and inde- 
pendent people, and knowing, on the other hand, the 
vast resources on which we could rely for support, I 
then became convinced that our government, being 
organized in a manner by no means conformable with 
the wishes of the nation, and governed by secondary 
legislature, not adapted for the advancement of its 
interests, the people revenged themselves in that way, 
by seeking for an occasion in which they should be 
called on to take care of their own good, and to 
organize their government in a manner which they 
should consider most proper. 



202 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

In our time, we have seen another nation, in a 
similar conflict, employing similar means to oblige its 
government to promise the representative system which 
it was anxious to have established, and when that had 
been obtained, we have seen its moral apathy changed 
into heroic enthusiasm against the foreign invader who 
endeavored to subjugate it. Is there anything, there- 
fore, strange in the idea that our people should, in this 
instance, do as much to recover the full enjoyment of 
their sovereignty, acknowledged by all governments, 
though trodden under foot by all, in the practical 
administration of affairs ? On this point I owe to my 
country, in consideration of the part w^hich I have taken, 
to declare frankly and honestly, upon this critical and 
solemn occasion, that it can be saved only by a return 
to first principles, with entire submission of the minority 
to the sovereign will of the majority of the nation. 

Upon proof so clear and peremptory, of the serious 
difficulties attending that which I had considered best 
calculated to secure to the republic respectability abroad, 
I found it right to recede, and to yield to public opinion^ 
and follow it with the same ardor and constancy with 
which I had opposed it before comprehending it. To 
discover the most effective means of raising the spirit of 
the pubHc, and predisposing it to the war, with which 
we were threatened on the north, was my employment ; 
and I was beginning to develope the measures for that 
purpose, when the events of the 6th of December, 1844, 
occurred, and plunged the republic into the miserable 
situation in which you now see it. 

Expatriated from that time for ever from the national 
territory, with a prohibition to return to it under the 
hard penalty of death, the obstacle which I was sup- 
posed to present to the establishment of an administra- 



SANTA ANNA. 203 

tive system, conformable with public exigencies, being 
removed, I believed that the men who had succeeded 
in placing themselves in my stead, by calling public 
opinion to their aid in effecting it, would respect that 
opinion, and summon the nation to organize its govern- 
ment according to its own wishes. Pained, as I was, 
not to be allowed to take part in the real regeneration 
of the country, I still most sincerely desired it ; because 
I believed that whilst our political horizon was daily be- 
coming darker, no other means was left to save us. 

My prayers for this w^ere redoubled, on seeing that, in 
consequence of the development of the invasive policy 
of the United States, stimulated by the perfidy of the 
cabinet of General Herrera, on the serious question of 
our northern frontiers, the European press began to indi- 
cate the necessity of a foreign intervention in our domes- 
tic concerns, in order to preserve us from the ambitious 
projects of the neighboring republic. That, however, 
which raised my uneasiness to the greatest height, was 
to see in a newspaper of credit and influence, published 
in the old world, a proposition made in October last, to 
bring us back, by force, under the yoke of our ancient 
masters. My conviction was, nevertheless, still strong, 
that no Mexican, however weak might be his feelings 
of attachment for his country, would dare to favor such 
ideas openly, and still less to recommend them to the 
consideration of the people. 

Meanwhile, news reached me of a revolution pro- 
jected by General Paredes, which revived my hopes ; 
for though he had been the determined enemy of every 
representative popular government, I supposed that he 
had altered his opinions, and I honored him so far as to 
believe him incapable of advancing schemes for European 
mtervention, in the interior administration of the repub- 



204 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

lie. He succeeded, and his manifesto declaring his ad- 
hesion to the plan proposed by the troops quartered at 
San Luis Potosi, increased my uneasiness ; because I 
clearly saw in it a diatribe against the independence of 
the nation, rather than the patriotic address of a Mexican 
general, seeking, in good faith, to remedy the evils of 
his country. His perverse designs were, in fine, fully 
revealed, as well by his summons [for the assemblage of 
congress] of the 24th of last January, issued in conse- 
quence of this revolution, as by the newspapers showing 
the tendency of his administration to the establishment 
of a monarchy, under a foreign prince, in the republic. 

As one of the principal chiefs of the independence 
of our country, and the founder of the republican sys- 
tem, I was then indignant at this endeavor of some of 
its sons to deliver the nation up to the scoffs of the 
world, and to carry it back to the ominous days of the 
conquest. I thereupon took the firm determination to 
come and aid you to save our country from such a stain, 
and to avoid the horrible consequences of a measure by 
which its glorious destiny was to be reversed, carrying 
it back to what it was, and to what it never should be 
again. To execute this determination, was to offer up 
my blood to any one who, in case of failure, might 
choose to shed it, in compliance with the terms of the 
barbarous decree which drove me from the republic; 
but I preferred to perish in this noble attempt, rather 
than appear indifferent to the ignominy of my country, 
and see the countless sacrifices made for our indepen- 
dence, and the right to govern ourselves, all rendered 
illusory. 

Mexicans : The real objects of those who, while invp- 
king order and tranquillity, have constantly endeavored 
to prevent the nation fi"om organizing its government 



SANTA ANNA. 205 

as it chose, have now been laid open ; and the time is 
come when all true republicans of all parties, the body 
of the people as well as the army, should unite their 
efforts sincerely, in order to secure entirely the indepen- 
dence of our country, and to place it at liberty to adopt 
the form of government most suitable to its wishes, each 
sacrificing his own individual convictions to the will of 
the majority. How, indeed, can the minority, however 
wise, opulent, and powerful they may be, pretend to as- 
sume to themselves the right to regulate the affairs of 
the community, or to govern the majority, without an 
express delegation from the latter, given of their own 
accord, not presumed, nor still less extorted by force? 
This may be among people who are ignorant of their 
own rights, and where the want of the means of inde- 
pendent subsistence subjects the many to the few, who 
have monopolized everything; but it is not to be 
effected among us, in whom the democratic spirit, in 
the midst of so many favoring circumstances, has been 
developing itself for thirty-six years, and now renders 
imperious and decisive, the necessity of concentrating 
by practice, the political axiom of the sovereignty of the 
nation. 

This most essential circumstance has been disre- 
garded and despised in all the constitutions hitherto 
given to the country; and in the only one which has 
appeared most popular, the antagonism of the principles 
adopted, has rendered it ineffective ; so that democracy, 
which alone can serve as a solid basis for our social 
edifice, has been unable to develope itself, and thus to 
afford the peace which is its instinctive law, and the other 
ineffable benefits which 'it produces. Hence the con- 
vulsions which have so long agitated us, and of which 
some European writers have taken advantage, so far as 
9* 



206 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

to depreciate our race ; opposing the liberty and inde- 
pendence of the republic ; manifesting the necessity of 
interference, in order to strengthen it against the febrile 
invasion of the United States ; and declaring, in fine, 
that it would be as easy to conquer Mexico with a por- 
tion of the troops now quartered in the island of Cuba, 
as it was in the time of the native Mexican princes. My 
blood boils on seeing the contempt with which w^e are 
thus treated, by men who either do not know us well, 
or who, interested in transplanting among us the fruits of 
their old social systems, and of the times in which they 
originated, consider America in the same state in which 
it was in the sixteenth century. Should any attempts 
be made, as indicated, to carry these mad plans into 
effect, all interests of race would be silenced, and but 
one voice would be heard throughout the continent. 
The one hemisphere would then be seen arrayed against 
the other, and for the disasters which would fall on the 
rash aggressor who should thus attempt to interfere with 
the internal administration of other nations, he alone 
would be responsible. 

To pronounce thus against the many nations w^hich 
form the great Hispano-American family, to declare 
them incapable of enjoying republican institutions, is, in 
fact, to be ignorant of, or to conceal, what is proved by 
the testimony of Chili, New Grenada, and Venezuela, 
in contradiction of such assertions. It is to attribute, 
no doubt with evil intentions, to men of a certain race, 
defects of administrative forms, which, not being 
entirely democratic, have produced the bitter fruits of 
the monarchical forms, engrafted on them, without 
adverting to the fatal influence of the latter on the lot 
of the others. 

To expect, moreover, to strengthen the nation by 



SANTA ANNA. 20T 

monarchy, under a foreign prince, is to suppose the 
existence in it of elements for the establishment and 
maintenance of that system ; or that, wearied by its 
struggle to conquer its liberty, the nation sighs for 
European masters, or for anything else than the peace 
which alone it wants. Erroneous, most erroneous 
indeed is this idea. In the efforts of the nation to 
emancipate itself from the power of the few, who, in 
good or in bad faith, have endeavored to rule it in their 
own way, its democratic tendencies have acquired such 
a degree of intensity and energy, that to oppose them, 
to attempt to destroy the hopes to which they gave 
birth, by a project such as that advanced, would be to 
provoke a desperate measure ; to endeavor to cure an 
evil by the means calculated to exasperate it. Fasci- 
nated by the example of a nation not yet a century old, 
and which, under its own government, has attained a 
degree of prosperity and advantages not enjoyed by 
those of the Old World, notwithstanding their antiquity, 
and the slow progress of their political systems, our 
republic aspires only to the management of its own 
affairs, either by itself, or through representatives in 
whom it has confidence, in order to develope the vast 
resources of power and wealth in its bosom. 

This being therefore its dominant, its absorbing idea, 
it would have resisted the other plan with all its might ; 
and if an attempt had been made to change its direction 
by the employment of foreign bayonets, it would have 
flown to arms, and war would have burst forth through- 
out its immense territory, renewing even more disas- 
trously the bloody scenes of 1820 and the succeeding 
years. From such a state of things, the Anglo-Amerir 
can race would have derived great advantage for the 
progress of its ambitious schemes, or for forming a new 



208 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

republic from our interior departments, by exciting their 
sympathies and gratitude for the services rendered them 
in repelling a project no less injurious to itself. This 
tendency, which has been excited in some departments 
by disappointment from not obtaining provincial liber- 
ties, which they desired, would have become general 
throughout all ; and no force would have been able to 
restrain them from carrying such views into effect. 

On the other hand, the republic being composed for 
the most part of young men, who have no knowledge of 
the past, except from the sinister accounts of their 
fathers, and who, educated with republican ideas, rely 
with confidence on a government eminently popular, to 
lead their country to prosperity and greatness — where 
are the internal supports which monarchy presented as 
the means on which our salvation can be founded? 
That which has disappeared. Habits of passive obedi- 
ence no longer exist ; and if there remains a sentiment 
of religion, time has undermined the political power of 
the directors of consciences. An influential aristocracy, 
so necessary for the permanence of monarchies such as 
exist in old Europe, the only proper place for institu- 
tions of that class, is not to be found, nor can it ever be 
organized here. In Europe, the misery of the great 
mass of the overloaded population, which depends on 
its own labor to obtain what is strictly and merely neces- 
sary for its subsistence, in the midst of an industry which 
is so severely tasked, allows no time to the people to 
think of their political rights, nor means to free them- 
selves from the tyranny of the patrician families, on 
whom they depend, all the landed property being in 
their hands. But no such state of things can be found 
in our republic ; in which all is uncultivated, virgin, rich, 
and fruitful, offering to man, in the utmost abundance. 



SANTA ANNA. 209 

and with the greatest facility, all that he can ask for his 
labor — all that can lead to that individual independence 
which favors the development of democratic instincts. 

These difficulties being, therefore, of such a nature 
as to render nearly impossible the establishment of 
monarchy in our country, attempts have been made, in 
order to overcome them, to throw the affairs of the 
republic into the greatest disorder, preventing the 
organization of its government within, and aggravating 
the most serious question of our northern frontiers with 
another nation. 

In this manner the faction which fostered that par 
ricide project, having attained the first of its ends by 
many years of artifices and manoeuvering, next proposed 
to carry the second into effect, by provoking, in a 
manner almost direct, the government of the United 
States to aggrandize itself by taking our rich depart- 
ment of Texas, and then advancing into the very heart 
of our country. To involve our people in the evils of 
a fearful invasion, has been its last resource, in order to 
force them to accept its painful alternative — obliging 
them either to become the prey of Anglo-American 
ambition, or to fly, for the safety of their national 
existence, to monarchical forms under a European 
prince. 

For this object it was that this party, having the 
control in the chambers of 1844-'45, refused to the 
government of that period the appropriations which it 
asked for maintaining the integrity of the national 
territory, already seriously jeoparded. It did more : 
it raised up a revolution, in which the slender allow- 
ances made to the government for that object, on its 
urgent demands, w^ere unblushingly declared to be sup- 
pressed : and, on its triumph, it scattered the means 
U 



210 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

collected for the war, and hastened to recognise the 
independence of Texas. The chief of this revolution, 
who has always acted under the influence of his own 
fatal inspirations, then appeared again in insurrection at 
San Luis Potosi, wdth the force destined for the defence 
of the frontiers ; and withdrawing that force to the 
capital of the republic, he there usurped the supreme 
power, and began to put in operation his scheme of 
European intervention in our interior administration, 
whilst the hosts of the Anglo-Americans w^ere advancing 
to take possession, even of the banks of the Rio Bravo. 
Having at his disposal considerable forces in the adjoin- 
ing departments, he allowed the enemy time to ad- 
vance, without resistance, through our territory ; and 
at length — most tardily — he sent to Matamoras a small 
body of troops, needy, and unprovided with anything 
necessary for conducting the campaign with success. 
Who can fail to see, in these perfidious manceuvres, 
the bastard design of attracting the forces of the enemy 
to our central territories, in order there to propose to 
us, in the midst of the conflicts of war, as the only 
means of safety, the subjection of the republic to servi- 
tude, the ignominy of the country, the revival of the 
plan of Iguala — in fine, the return to the government 
of the viceroys. 

With this object, and for this fatal moment, which 
every means was employed to hasten, was a congress 
assembled, chosen for the purpose, composed only of 
representatives of certain determined classes, not form- 
ing even a sixth of our population, and elected in a 
manner, perfidiously arranged, to secure a number of 
voices sufficient to place the seal of opprobrium on the 
nation. Leaving, with scarcely a single representative, 
the great majority of the nation, the eleven bishops of 



SANTA ANNA, 211 

our dioceses were declared deputies, and our ecclesiastical 
cahildos were authorized to elect nine others on their 
parts, giving to the bishops the faculty of appointing 
such proxies as they might choose, to take their places 
in case they should not find it convenient to attend in 
person. Does not this prove abundantly that a decided 
endeavor was made to supplant the will of the nation, 
in order to give some species of authority to this scheme 
of European intervention in the settlement of our internal 
affairs ? 

The protestation of republican sentiments made by 
General Paredes, after these irrefragable proofs so fully 
condemning him, were only new acts of perfidy, intended 
to tranquillize the republic, to set its suspicions at rest, 
and to arrange the occasion for carrying into effect his 
base designs. He uttered these protestations in the middle 
of March last, when he saw the public discontent mani- 
fest itself against his powers and his plans. But what 
followed ? Did he not continue to protect the Tiempo, 
a newspaper established in the capital itself, for the sole 
object of rendering republican forms odious, and recom- 
mending the necessity of a monarchy ; advancing every 
argument which could be supposed calculated to lead 
astray the good sense of the nation ? Did he convene 
another popular congress ? Did he retract the summons 
which he had issued in January, placing the fate of the 
nation at the mercy of the few men who remain among 
us of the old colonial regime ? Everything continued 
in the same way ; and, when the press was prohibited 
from discussing forms of government, it was in order to 
give an amnesty to the writers in favour of monarchy, 
who were then prosecuted by the judicial power, and 
to encourage them to continue their criminal publica- 
tions, while silence was imposed on the defenders of the 



212 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

republican system. Meanwhile he hastened, by every 
means in his power, the assemblage of the congress 
destined to carry into effect his monarchical plan ; he 
concentrated his forces, in order to suppress all move- 
ments on the part of the people, alarmed by the near 
approach of such an unpropitious event; abandoning 
our frontiers to the invaders, or rather surrendering 
them to the foreign enemy, by the reverses which he 
had prepared and arranged at Palo Alto and Resaca de 
la Palma. 

No, Mexicans! let there be no compromise with 
a party whose conduct has been a tissue of cruel 
treachery towards our country ; have nothing to do 
with it, however flattering be its promises, and what- 
soever the forms with which it may in future invest 
itself. 

In the last convulsions of its agony, it sought to 
assure its safety by its accustomed manoeuvres. It pro- 
claimed principles which it detested. It allied itself 
with bastard republicans, and exhibited itself as the 
friend of liberty, in order, by that means, to avoid its 
just punishment, to maintain itself in power, and to con- 
tinue to undermine the edifice cemented by the illus- 
trious blood of the Hidalgos and Morelos. 

The fraudulent schemes of the enemies of our coun- 
try being thus unfolded, and the true source of its mis- 
fortunes being laid open to all, the radical remedy of 
the whole evil consists in putting an end for ever to the 
ruinous control of minorities, by calling on the nation 
honestly to fix its own destiny, and to secure its terri- 
tory, its honor, and its welfare. Thus placed in entire 
liberty to act, as it should be, in the midst of the dis- 
cussions carried on by the press, in the tribune, and even 
in the streets and squares, it will take into consideration 



SANTA ANNA. 213 

the evils which surround it, and seek the means of re- 
sisting them ; and satisfied in its desires, mistress of its 
own fate, it will display the energy peculiar to a free 
people — will prove equal to the conflicts in which it is 
to be engaged — and will come out of them, not only 
honorably, but moreover, entirely regenerated. In this 
way, the administration, established, resting on, and 
springing from public opinion, may display all its 
organized forces, to maintain our territory, instead of 
quartering them in the central towns, as hitherto, under 
a government created by seditious movements, con- 
stantly at war with the nation, and occupied solely in 
endeavoring to save itself, without regard for our ex- 
ternal dangers. 

Fellow-countrymen, never has the situation of the 
republic been so difficult as at present. Its national 
existence threatened on one side, on the other an attempt 
has been to subject it to the hardest of all lots, to Eu- 
ropean dominion. Such is the abyss to which we have 
been brought by the endeavor to govern our young 
society according to the system adopted in the old. 
This, the true cause of the long struggle in which we 
have been engaged, which has weakened our forces, and 
by which the interests of the majority have been sacri- 
ficed to the extravagant pretensions of a small minority. 
This state of things must be ended, in compliance with 
the wishes of the nation ; and by opposing to the former, 
the union of repubhcans of true faith, the, concert of the 
army and the people. By this union we shall conquer 
the independence of our country ; thus united, we shall 
confirm it by establishing peace on the solid basis of 
public liberty; thus united, we shall preserve the 
integrity of our immense territory. 

But now, ^vith regard to the plan proposed for the 



214 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

revolution, it is my honor and my duty to observe, 
that by limiting the congress therein proclaimed to the 
organization of the system of government, and the de- 
termination of what relates to the serious question of 
our northern frontiers, the provisional government of 
the nation would find itself required, until the system 
has been thus organized, to use its own discretion on all 
other points. This would be investing the provisional 
government with a dictatorship, always odious, how- 
ever imperious' might be the circumstances rendering it 
necessary. I therefore propose that the said assembly 
should come fully authorized to determine w^ith regard 
to all branches of the public administration, which may 
be of general interest, and wdthin the attributes of the 
legislative power ; the provisional executive of the 
nation acting with entire submission to its determi- 
nations. 

I consider it, moreover, indispensable that a uniform 
rule be established for the regulation of the interior 
affairs of the departments ; and that for this purpose 
the constitution of the year 1824 be adopted, until the 
new constitutional code be completed. By this means 
we shall avoid that divergency of opinions, at this 
critical moment, when uniformity is so much needed ; 
the national will which sanctioned that code will have 
been consulted, and the executive of the nation will 
have a guide to follow, so far as the present eccentric 
position of the republic will allow. I submit both 
measures to the will of the departments, expressed by 
the authorities, who may be established in consequence 
of the revolution ; proposing, moreover, that the pro- 
visional government of the nation should adopt forth- 
with the second, as the rule of its conduct, antil it be 
determined otherwise by the majority of the depart- 



SANTA ANNA. 215 

merits, in the form already indicated. The slave of 
public opinion myself, I shall act in accordance with it, 
seeking for it henceforth in the manner in which it may 
be known and expressed, and subjecting myself after- 
w-ards entirely to the decisions of the constituent assem- 
bly, the organ of the sovereign will of the nation. 

Mexicans ! There was once a day, and my heart 
dilates wdth the remembrance, when leading on the 
popular masses, and the army, to demand the rights of 
the nation, you saluted me with the enviable title of 
soldier of the people. Allow me again to take it, 
never more to be given up ; and to devote myself until 
death, to the defence of the liberty and independence of 
the republic. 

ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA. 

His old position he yet occupies, in spite of two sig- 
nal defeats and a tide of misfortunes, which would 
justify a more volatile people than the Mexicans, in a 
popular commotion. Of all the men in that country, he 
is best calculated to guide her in such an emergency as 
has befallen her, and he is doubtless wise enough to 
know that not only the good of the country, but his own. 
selfish ends, can only be attained in a season of peace. 

The glance we have thus given of the public events 
of the life of General Santa Anna, is a meagre sketch, 
but will suffice to show that he has played no incon- 
siderable part in the events which have occurred in 
Mexico, all of which will appear either to have been 
effected by him or for his benefit. One who occupies 
so prominent a station, cannot be denied to be great, 
though it is by no means a consequence that he is good. 
It is probable no one living is so unpopular in the United 
States, in some portions of which his name is never 



216 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

mentioned but with execrations. The events of the war 
with Texas, so disastrous to him, have made him uni- 
versally known; and so long as English is written, 
will the massacre of Colonel Fanning be looked on as 
an atrocity unparalleled, and worthy of the severest 
punishment. We cannot but look on his violations of 
his treaty with Houston as being a wilful disregard of 
his word, but to both the one and the other it maiy be 
urged that he followed the example of those whom the 
world points to as models. Malta is yet in the hands 
of the English, in spite of a sealed treaty which pro- 
mised its surrender, and often have the rules of war been 
violated by the same government, with regard to her 
prisoners. It may not be amiss to hear what he says 
himself in relation to the first of these occurrences, as 
reported by an unquestionable authority. 

" As to the affair at the Alamo, he said that it was not 
expected of any commander to restrain his troops when 
a place w^as taken by storm, and still less so when the 
disproportion of the forces of the besiegers and besieged 
w^as so great as to make a successful defence altogether 
hopeless — that in such a case to protract the defence wab 
a w^anton sacrifice of the lives of the assailants, and 
unjustifiable ; that scenes equally sanguinary w^ere en- 
acted by the troops under the command of the Duke of 
Wellington at the storming of San Sebastian, Ciudad 
Rodrigo, and Badajos. The Texans who defended the 
Alamo did not exceed one hundred and fifty men, with- 
out artillery, against betw^een four and five thousand 
Mexicans, with artillery. He added that he had seven 
different times summoned them to surrender, and offered 
them quarter, w^hich he would have taken the risk and 
responsibility of granting, but that they refused to ac 
cept it, and fought to the last and died gloriously." 



SANTA ANNA. 217 

His justification of the shooting of Fanning's men, 
has been given in an earlier part of this work. 

In a career of thirty years, but three events have 
occurred to cast on Santa Anna the stains of cruelty ; 
and when we remember the sanguinary school in which 
he grew up, we have more reason to wonder at his 
moderation than his excesses. Far hence be any design 
to palhate his faults, which are dark enough to need no 
fancy touches and misrepresentations to give them the- 
atrical effect to suit those who most prefer to sup on 
horrors. 

Santa Anna has amassed a vast fortune ; it does not, 
however, follow that this has been by means of pecula- 
tion, for his father was an officer of rank, and he has 
twice married women of estate. The first Senora Santa 
Anna has been represented by all as kind and gentle, 
ever exerting her influence for good, and deservedly 
popular. Much of the consideration and kindness ex- 
tended to the Santa Fe prisoners was to be attributed to 
her, and more than one of them have remembered her. 
She was the mother of a daughter of whom the journals 
of Mexico have recently made but little mention. The 
present Senora he married soon after the death of the 
former, which took place in 1843. The second one is 
said to be attached to him, has shared his exile, and 
submitted to much privation with him. 

Such is Santa Anna, whether good or bad, what his 
country has made him. A chapter of his history is yet 
to be written which will perhaps display him in yet 
more brilliant colors : or,- it may be, record another re- 
verse from which he will be unable to recover himself. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

VALENTINO GOMEZ FARIAS AND ANASTASIO 
BUSTAMENTE. 

Farias an opponent of Iturbide — Elected vice-president- — 
Attempts to obtain liberal institutions — Congress suspends its 
sessions — Farias banished — Returns to Mexico — Pronounces 
against Bustamente's government — His attempt defeated — 
Early life of Bustamente — Election to the presidency — 
Banished — Returns to Mexico — His second election to the 
presidency — Resigns. 

Valentino Gomez Farias is one of the most emi- 
nent men in Mexico, and has always been found in the 
same phase of the political world, a partisan of radical 
reform. His name has appeared in the records of e very- 
event since the revolution, having been a diputado to 
the first congresses ; always the defender of popular 
liberties, he opposed Iturbide when the latter made him- 
self a monarch, although one of his partisans at the 
commencement of his career ; supported both Pedraza 
and Victoria, and has always been willing to stand by 
any one who would take a step towards the advance- 
ment of popular liberty. 

He first appears in a prominent position when, at the 
expiration of Pedraza's presidency, Santa Anna was 
chosen to succeed him with Farias as his vice-president. 
The state of affairs in Mexico at this period was most 
peculiar. Santa Anna was the constitutional president, 
and sought to destroy the instrument under which he 
held office so as to extend his authority, while Gomez 
Farias, a liberal, or " exaltado,^^ was anxious to increase 
the privileges of the people, and assimilate the govern- 
ment to that of the United States his great object of ad- 



FARIAS AND BUSTAMENTE. 219 

miration. In the congress of 1833 and 1834, there was 
a strong majority in favor of the vice-president, and 
decrees were passed or proposed destroying much of the 
incubus of oppression, by which the church, heterodox 
in the eyes of the Catholic world, as it was repugnant 
to the principles of a free people, would have been 
removed. Santa Anna long protested against these 
innovations, and at length began to hint that he would 
employ force to counteract the views of the reformers. 
This was a hazardous scheme, the chances of which, 
however, he had well calculated ; and by one of those 
manoeuvres which he so well understood, he began to 
concentrate his forces around the capital. He proceeded 
so far as to post a guard at the door of the senate 
chamber, and gave to the officer in command. Captain 
Cortez, orders to exclude all but the senators known to 
be his friends. At this outrage, Cortez, who had been 
educated in the United States, represented, in a con- 
versation not long afterwards, that though he obeyed 
his general, he felt as if he were guilty of matricide, 
knowing that he destroyed the liberties of his country. 
The consequence was, that the congress immediately 
declared the freedom of its discussions invaded, and on 
the 14th of May, 1834, suspended its sessions. This is 
the last thing a deliberative body should do. It should 
remember it has no dignity separate from that of its con- 
stituents ; that it is its duty to do all things, to suffer all 
things, rather than degrade the character of the nation. 
A senate should never fly from a foreign enemy ; and it 
may be with some propriety maintained, that it should 
sit, like the old Romans, calmly in the capitol till Gauls 
plucked at the beards of the senators. 

The senate of Mexico, however, was not Roman. It 
was not even supported by the prejudices of the people. 



220 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

It is one of the peculiarities of the Spanish race, on both 
continents, to love titles. The old Castilian, like the 
soldier in Kotzebue's "Pizarro," proof to bribes, can be 
won by an appeal to kindness and vanity. The race is 
everywhere fond of titles, and consequently jealous of 
those who possess higher distinction than themselves. 
Mier y Teran, when he dispersed the congress of Chil- 
panzingo, said " that instead of attending to the interests 
of the people, its members were occupied in taking care 
of themselves, and calling each other excellentisimos,^^ 
and this account seems to exhibit all the characteristics 
of the legislative assembhes of the country, before or 
since. The consequence of such a state of affairs could 
not but be jealousy on the part of the people, the exis- 
tence of which Santa Anna took advantage of. Imme- 
diately on the suspension of its sessions by the congress, 
Santa Anna appealed to the people by a proclamation, in 
which he set forth his views in relation to the preservation 
of religion, order, and law, all of which, he said, were 
threatened by the vice-president, Farias, and his tyran- 
.nical majority in the legislature. How potent this ad- 
dress w^as, will be understood by a reference to a subse- 
quent chapter, in which is exhibited a statement of the 
condition of the church. The minds of the people hav- 
ing been prepared by this address, a pronunciamento was 
effected on the 25th of May, at Cuernavaca, a town of 
the department of Mexico, about thirty miles from the 
capital. The plan proposed on this occasion w^as 
strange : it put a negative on all prospect of improve- 
ment from the extension of religious liberty, by a pro- 
vision that all laws affecting church property should be 
repealed ; it destroyed liberty of political opinion, by an 
enactment that all the partisans of the federal system 
should be banished, that the actual congress had ceased 



FARIAS AND BUSTAISIENTE. 221 

to exist, and that another should be convened, the mem- 
bers of which were to possess full powers to re-organize 
the government. This plan was almost universally ad- 
hered to, and the session of congress finally ceased. 
The new congress met on the 1st of January, 1835, as 
has previously been described, and the first act was to 
declare the vice-president, Farias, disfranchised, and he 
was accordingly compelled to retire to New Orleans, 
where he resided as lately as 1838. It then proceeded 
to a series of discussions, relative to the form of govern- 
ment, &c., the result of which was a declaration that 
congress might make any alterations it pleased in the 
organic form of the government, so that a repubhcan 
constitution existed, and the Cathohc religion was not 
interfered with. 

During the presidency of Bustamente, who seems far 
purer and less vindictive than any other of the public men 
of Mexico, the prohibition under which Gomez Farias 
lay was removed, and he returned to Mexico. Busta- 
mente, it wdll be recollected, had been a friend of Farias, 
or, at least, at one period of his life, had professed as 
devoted an attachment to the old federal system ; but 
during the absence of Santa Anna on his expedition 
against Texas, he had become chief magistrate under the 
constitution w^hich declared the Mexican republic one 
and indivisible, and procured the exile of the subject of 
this notice. All accounts represent Farias as a pure and 
disinterested patriot, as one who, had he lived in the 
United States, would have acted with Jefferson and the 
other defenders of the greatest liberty against all and any 
usurpations. Bustamente, on the other hand, w^as a man 
of peace, a pupil of that school which believes whatever 
is safest is best, and which would inculcate the maxim 
that all things are better than a violation of public peace. 
10 



222 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

Madame Calderon, in her entertaining book, represents 
him as boldly avowing these opinions, admirable, per- 
haps, for a private citizen, but altogether unworthy of 
the chief of a nation. The minister, however, often 
fmds it convenient to renounce the opinions he had pro- 
fessed \vhen seeking power, and Bustamente, under the 
old and the new constitution, were different beings. 
The sanction of an oath, also, gave him an excuse for 
acting as he did. 

No sooner had Farias landed in Mexico, which he 
did in the latter part of 1839, the date it is almost im- 
possible now to ascertain, than he set to w^ork to ar- 
range his plans, and in General Urrea, already some- 
what known from his participation in the campaign of 
Texas, he found a hand ready to execute what his head 
would suggest. This pronunciamento was made on the 
15th of July, 1840. At the head of two regiments, one 
that del Comercio, the commandant of which was the 
celebrated Count Cortina, now distinguished as being 
not only one of the ^vealthiest, but most erudite men in 
Mexico, but who appears to have sustained Bustamp-te 
in this movement, they rushed to the palace del Gohiei 7i/\ 
and imprisoned the president. The whole circumstanr' s 
are, however, best explained by the government bulletin, 
an extract from which follows : 

"Yesterday, at midnight, Urrea, w^ith a handful of 
troops belonging to the garrison and its neighborhood, 
took possession of the National Palace, surprising the 
guard, and committing the incivility of imprisoning his 
excellency the president, Don Anastasio Bustamente, 
the commander-in-chief, the Mayor de la Plaza, and 
other chiefs. Don Gabriel Valencia, chief of the plana 
mayor (the staff). General Don Antonio Mozo, and the 
minister of war, Don Juan Nepomuceno Almonte, re- 



FARIAS AND BUSTAMENTE. 223 

united in the citadel, prepared to attack the pronunciados, 
who, arming the lowest populace, took possession of the 
towers of the cathedral, and of some of the highest edi- 
fices in the centre of the city. Although summoned to 
surrender, at two in the afternoon firing began, and con- 
tinued till midnight, recommencing at five in the mor- 
ning, and only ceasing at intervals. The colonel of the 
sixth regiment, together with a considerable part of his 
corps, \vho were in the barracks of the palace, escaped 
and joined the government troops, who have taken the 
greatest part of the positions near the square and the 
palace. His excellency the president, with a part of 
the troops which had pronounced in the palace, made 
his escape on the morning of the sixteenth, putting him- 
self at the head of the troops who have remained faithful 
to their colors, and at night published the following pro- 
clamation : 

"7%e President of the Republic to the Mexican JYation. 

" Fellow- Citizens: The seduction which has spread 
over a very small part of the people and garrison of this 
capital ; the forgetfulness of honor and duty, have caused 
the defection of a few^ soldiers, whose misconduct up to 
this hour has been thrown into confusion by the valiant 
behavior of the greatest part of the chiefs, officers, and 
soldiers, who have intrepidly followed the example of 
the valiant general-in-chief of the plana mayor of the 
army. The government was not ignorant of the machi- 
nations that were carrying on; their authors were well 
knoiun to it, and it foresaw that the gentleness and clem- 
ency which it had hitherto employed in order to disarm 
them, would he corresponded to with ingratitude. 

" This line of policy has caused the nation to remain 



224 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

headless {acefala) for some hours, and public tranquillity 
to be disturbed; but my liberty being restored, the 
dissidents, convinced of the evils which have been and 
may be caused by these tumults, depend upon a recon- 
ciliation for their security. The government will remem- 
ber that they are misled men, belonging to the great 
Mexican family, but not for this will it forget how much 
they have forfeited their rights to respect ; nor what is 
due to the great bulk of the nation. Public tranquillity 
will be restored in a few" hours ; the laws will imme- 
diately recover their energy, and the government will 
see them obeyed. 

c^ANASTASIO BUSTAMENTE. 

"MEXICO; July 16th, 1840." 

Previous to this the president had escaped. One pro- 
clamation in Mexico always produces another, and Fa- 
rias, who had been proclaimed president by his party, 
issued the following reply: 

" Fellow-Citizens : We present to the civilized world 
two facts, which, while they will cover with eternal 
glory the federal army and the heroic inhabitants of 
this capital, will hand down with execration and in- 
famy, to all future generations, the name of General 
Bustamente ; this man without faith, breaking his 
solemnly pledged word, after being put at liberty by an 
excess of generosity ; for having promised to take 
immediate steps to bring ' about a negotiation of peace, 
upon the honorable basis which was proposed to him, 
he is now converted into the chief of an army, the 
enemy of the federalists ; and has beheld, with a serene 
countenance, this beautiful capital destroyed, a multi- 
tude of families drowned in tears, and the death of 



FARIAS AND BUSTAMENTE. 226 

many citizens ; not only of the combatants, but of those 
who have taken no part in the struggle. Amongst 
these must be counted an unfortunate woman enceinte, 
who was killed as she was passing the palace gates, 
under the behef that a parley having come from his 
camp, the firing would be suspended, as in fact it was 
on our side. This government, informed of the mis- 
fortune, sent for the husband of the deceased, and 
ordered twenty-five dollars to be given him ; but the 
unfortunate man, though plunged in grief, declared that 
twelve were sufficient to supply his wants. Such was 
the horror inspired by the atrocious conduct of the ex- 
government of Bustamente, that this sentiment covered 
up and suffocated all the others. 

" Another fact, of which we shall with difficulty find 
an example in history, is the following. The day that 
the firing began, being in want of some implements of 
war, it was necessary to cause an iron case to be opened, 
belonging to Don Stanislaus Flores, in which he had a 
considerable sum of money in different coin, besides his 
most valuable effects. Thus, all that the government 
could do, was to make this known to the owner, Senor 
Flores, in order that he might send a person of confi- 
dence to take charge of his interests, making known 
what was wanting, that he might be immediately paid. 
The pertinacity of the firing prevented Senor Flores 
from naming a commissioner for four days, and then, 
although the case has been open, and no one has taken 
charge of it, the commissioner has made known officially 
that nothing is taken from it but the implements of war 
which were sent for. Glory in yourselves, Mexicans ! 
The most polished nation of the earth, illustrious France, 
has not presented a similar fact. The Mexicans possess 
heroic virtues, which will raise them above all the 
15 



226 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

nations in tlie world. This is the only ambition of your 
fellow-citizen, 

"VALENTIN GOMEZ FARIAS. 

" God, Liberty, and Federalism. 
"Mexico, July 17th, 1840." 

Besides this, a circular was sent to all the governors 
and commandants of the different departments, from the 
" Palace of the Federal Provisional Government," to this 
effect : 

<<The citizen Jose Urrea, with the greater part of 
the garrison of the capital, and the whole population, 
pronounced early on the morning of this day, for the 
re-establishment of the federal system, adopting in the 
interim the constitution of 1824, whilst it is reformed 
by a congress which they are about to convoke to that 
effect ; and I, having been called, in order that at this 
juncture, I should put myself at the head of the govern- 
ment, communicate it to your excellency, informing you 
at the same time, that the object of the citizen Urrea, 
instead of re-establishing the federal system, has been to 
reunite all the Mexicans, by proclaiming toleration of all 
opinions, and respect for the lives, properties, and in- 
terests of all. 
. « God, Liberty, and Federalism. 

^i VALENTIN GOMEZ FARIAS. 
"National Palace of Mexico, 15th July, 1840." 

Thus the ball opened, and as proclamations are value- 
less everywhere without force, and especially so in 
Mexico, the several documents were sustained by arms. 
Gomez Farias, though no military man, exhibited him- 
self every where, and it was clearly enough shown that 
his cause was popular with the people and almost with 



I 



FARIAS AND BUSTAMENTE. 227 

the military, by the impunity with which he rode through 
the city. Mexico was, however, devastated ; there was 
almost a want of the necessaries of life in the capital, 
and the lives of inoffensive citizens were lost in the 
public squares and private dwellings of the national 
capital. 

On the 19th, the following proclamation was issued : 

" Address of His Excellency^ Senor Don Valentin Gomez 
Farias, charged provisionally with the government of 
Mexico, and of the General-in-Chief of the Federal 
army to the troops under his command. 

" Companions in arms : No one has ever resisted a 
people who fight for their liberty and who defend their 
sacred rights. Your heroic endeavors have already re- 
duced our unjust aggressors almost to complete nullity. 
Without infantry to cover their parapets, w^ithout artil- 
lery to fire their pieces, without money, without credit, 
and without support, they already make their last useless 
efforts. On our side, on the contrary, all is in abundance, 
(sohra) men, arms, ammunition, and money, and above 
all, the invincible support of opinion ; — while the parties 
which adhere to our pronunciamento in all the cities out 
of the capital, and the assistance which within this very 
city is given by every class of society to those who are 
fighting for the rights of the people, offer guarantees 
which they will strictly fulfil to all the inhabitants of the 
country, natives as well as foreigners. Our enemies, in 
the delirium of their impotence, have had recourse to 
their favorite weapon, calumny. In a communication 
directed to us, they have had the audacity to accuse you 
of having attacked some property. Miserable wretches ! 
No — the soldiers of the people are not robbers; the 



228 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

cause of liberty is very noble, and its defence will not 
be stained by a degrading action. This is the answer 
given to your calumniators by your chiefs, who are as 
much interested in your reputation as in their own. 
Soldiers of the people ! let valor, as w^ell as all other 
civic virtues, shine in your conduct, that you may never 
dim the renown of valiant soldiers and of good citizens. 

"VALENTIN GOMEZ FARIAS. 

"JOSE URREA." 

Thus stood affairs for several days ; and Mexico la 
hermosa was becoming a ruin. The palace of the arch- 
bishop was made a fortress by the party of Farias, a 
circumstance which, added to the fact that he had re- 
quired, as one of the bases of any new organization of 
government, that the lands in possession of ecclesiastical 
bodies should be liable to alienation, and should pay 
taxes, as did the property of individuals, enabled the 
government to make representations that he had re- 
quired the confiscation of the holy vessels of the cathe- 
drals, and other churches, and thereby to alienate from 
him the people, whose superstition was more powerful 
than their patriotism. 

At this juncture, came a letter from Santa Anna, 
dated Mango de Clavo, July 19, in which he professed 
his willingness to assist the president in allaying this 
commotion. This letter is remarkable ; as Farias and 
Urrea, the latter of whom w^as never known to act but 
as the lieutenant of Santa Anna, had everywhere repre- 
sented the last as their friend: and Bustamente at 
once took advantage of the circumstance, by publishing 
this adhesioji, and others received from Valencia, Ga- 
lendo, &c., in a bulletin, which, moreover, stated that 



FAKIAS AND BUSTAMENTE. 229 

it would be seen, in spite of all misrepresentations, how 
devoted Santa Anna was to the national cause. 

The people of Mexico were not deceived. They saw 
in this Janus-faced policy, that Santa Anna, whatever 
might have been his professions, now made a catspaw 
of the pure Farias, and was seeking to grasp the fruits 
of a contest his high-minded contemporary had entered 
into for the good of his country. 

On the 15th of July, it is well enough here to state, 
the following proclamation was made : — 

"Ministers: I protest that I find myself without 
liberty and without defence, the guards of the palace 
having abandoned me. Under these circumstances, let 
no order of mine, which is contrary to the duties of the 
post that I occupy, be obeyed ; since, although I am 
resolved to die before failing in my obligations, it will 
not be difficult to falsify my signature. Let this be 
made known by you to the congress, and to those gene- 
rals and chiefs who preserve sentiments of honor and 
fidelity. 

" ANASTASIO BUSTAMENTE. 

''National Palace, July ISth, 1840." 

The object of this was, that as Farias and his friends 
stated that Bustamente had been released, on condition 
that he would restore federalism, the public might be 
aware, either that such a promise had been extorted, or 
even if made in good faith, would be disregarded. On 
the same day, Urrea, who had command of the troops 
of the federahsts, proposed the following terms for a 
cessation of arms : — 

" Article 1st. It not having been the intention of the 
citizen, Jose Urrea, and of the troops under his com- 
10* 



230 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

mand, t(\ attack in any way the person of the president 
of the republic. General Anastasio Bustamente, he is 
replaced in the exercise of his functions. 

2d. Using his faculties as president of the republic, 
he will cause the firing to cease on the part of the troops 
opposed to the citizen Urrea ; who on his side will do 
the same. 

3d. The president shall organize a ministry de- 
serving of public confidence, and shall promise to re- 
establish the observance of the constitution of 1824, 
convoking a congress immediately, for the express pur- 
pose of reform. 

4th. Upon these foundations, peace and order shall 
be re-established, and no one shall be molested for the 
opinions which he has manifested, or for the principles 
he may have supported, all who are in prison for politi- 
cal opinions being set at liberty." 

All of which were rejected by the party of Busta- 
mente. 

On the 23d, the archbishop, acting in the capacity of 
mediator, which his social rank and functions entitled 
him to do, invited all parties to a conference in his pa- 
lace, a proposition unanimously acceded to ; but unfor- 
tunately, the truce was broken, and a bloody contest 
ensued ; during the course of which, the calk de Monte- 
rillo, in which were the head-quarters of Bustamente, 
since he had left the palace del gohierno, ran with 
blood. 

In spite of the rejection of the terms proposed by 
Urrea, Gomez Farias, on the same day, offered the 
following : — 

" 1st. The forces of both armies shall retire to occu- 
py places out of the capital. 

2d. Both the belligerent parties shall agree that 



FARIAS AND EUSTAMENTE. - 231 

the constitutional laws of 1836 shall remain without 
force. 

3d. A convention shall be convoked, establishing 
the new constitution, upon the basis fixed in the consti- 
tutive act, which will begin to be in force directly. 

4th. The elections of the members of the con- 
vention will be verified according to the laws by 
which the deputies of the constituent congress were 
directed. 

5th. His actual excellency, the president, will form 
a provisional government, he being the chief, until the 
foregoing articles begin to take effect. 

6th. No one shall be molested for political opinions 
manifested since the year 1821 until now : consequently, 
the persons, employments, and properties of all who 
have taken part in this or in the past revolutions, shall 
be respected. 

7th. That the first article may take effect, the go- 
vernment w^ill facilitate all that is necessary to both 
parties." 

These propositions were refused, and every means 
w^as used to prejudice the people against those who 
would have saved them ; at the same time it was stated 
that Santa Anna was approaching the capital. 

The more the revolution progressed, the more dis- 
gusting it became : evidently aware they were acting 
falsely to the interests of Mexico, every opportunity 
was taken to misrepresent the leaders of the revolt in the 
eyes of the people. A yet more unworthy system was 
pursued ; the taxes were lowered to gain the support of 
the leperos, w^ho thronged the capital. The conse- 
quence of this was, that on the 27th the president was 
enabled to say : 

" We have the grateful satisfaction of announcing. 



232 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

that the revolution of this capital has terminated 
happily. The rehellious troops having offered, in the 
night, to lay down arms upon certain conditions, his 
excellency, the commander-in-chief, has accepted their 
proposals with convenient modifications, which will be 
verified to-day ; the empire of laws, order, tran- 
quillity, and all other social guarantees being thus re- 
established." 

Similar documents were sent to all the departments 
of the republic, and thus terminated the abortive but 
honest attempt of Farias to reform the government of 
his country. 

The following letter of Santa Anna may be con- 
sidered its finale : 

" The triumph which the national arms have just 
obtained over the horrible attempts of anarchy, com- 
municated to me by your excellency, in your note of 
the 27th, is very worthy of being celebrated by every 
citizen who desires the welfare of his country, always 
supposing that public Vengeance (la vindicfa publico) 
has been satisfied ; and in this case, I offer you a thou- 
sand congratulations. This division, although filled 
with regret at not having participated on this occasion 
in the risks of our companions in arms, are rejoiced at 
so fortunate an event, and hope that energy and a 
wholesome severity will now strengthen order for ever, 
and will begin an era of felicity for the country. The 
happy event has been celebrated here, in the fortress, 
and in Tepeyahualco, where the first brigade had already 
arrived (and whom I have ordered to countermarch), 
with every demonstration of joy. I anxiously desire to 
receive the details which your excellency offers to com- 
municate to me, so that if the danger has entirely 
ceased, I may return to to my hacienda, and may lay 



FARIAS AND BUSTAMENTE. 233 

down the command of those troops which your excel- 
lency orders me to preserve here. 

" With sentiments of the most lively joy for the ces- 
sation of the misfortunes of the capital, I reiterate to 
yom- excellency those of my particular esteem. 

" God and Liberty. 
" ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA. 

"Perote, July 29, 1840." 

This plan had for its object the political regeneration 
ol the republic, and stated that six years previously a 
constitution had been adopted arbitrarily, which de- 
stroyed the lawful government of 1824, and which 
appropriated to a very few all the advantages of the 
social compact. The time, it stated, had come, when 
nothing but the exertions of the whole nation would 
win its ultimate salvation, and place Mexico in the 
position she should occupy among the nations of the 
earth. The first and fundamental article restored the 
constitution of 1824, and called for a congress to be 
composed of four deputies from each state. The con- 
stitution, after a scrutiny by this body, was to be sub- 
mitted to the people of each state for approval. The 
third' promises that the Catholic church shall be re- 
spected {respedada) ; the form of government was 
guarantied to be popular, representative, and liberal, 
and absolute equality was insured. The fourth pro- 
vided for a temporary government in the capital, whose 
functions were to be limited exclusively to foreign 
affairs. Other clauses provided for the refunding of 
taxes illegally levied, the closing of all internal custom 
houses, and the prohibition for ever of all taxes having 
such an object as the odious Alcahala of the Spanish 
rule. All political offences since the revolution were 



234 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

absolutely pardoned. Where is the fault of this plan? 
It has not even one selfish clause ; yet it did not suc- 
ceed. Farias also published a letter denying any 
design to touch the cathedral plate, and appended to 
this was a letter from the archbishop, stating explicitly 
that there had been no outrages committed in any of 
the ecclesiastical buildings occupied by his followers. 

On the night of the 18th of August, articles of capi- 
tulation WTre signed on both sides ; and Gen. Andrade, 
in the absence of Urrea, led the pronunciados from the 
city to Tlanapantla, whence they dispersed. When all 
was evidently lost, Gomez Farias disappeared; and 
Madame Calderon says, he was supposed to be con- 
cealed in the city. 

His party did not, however, lay down their arms but 
on the following terms : — 

"1st. Their lives, persons, employments, and proper- 
ties are to be inviolably preserved. 

2d. General Valencia engages to interpose his influ- 
ence with the government, by all legal means, that they 
may request the chambers to proceed to reform the con- 
stitution. 

3d. All political events which have occurred, since 
the fifteenth up to this date, are to be totally forgotten ; 
the forces w^ho adhered to the plan of the fifteenth being 
included in this agreement. 

4th. A passport out of the republic is to be given to 
whatever individual, comprehended in this agreement, 
may solicit it. 

5th. The troops of the pronunciados are to proceed 
to wherever General Valencia orders them, commanded 
by one of their own captains, whom he shall point out, 
and who must answer for any disorders they may 
commit. 



FARIAS AND BUSTAMENTE. 



235 



6th. General Valencia, and all the other generals 
of his army, must promise, on their honor, before the 
whole world, to keep this treaty, and see to its exact 
accomplishment. 

7th. It only applies to Mexicans. 

8th. Whenever it is ratified by the chiefs of both 
parties, it is to be punctually fulfilled, hostilities being 
suspended until six in the morning of the twenty-seventh, 
which gives time to ratify the conditions." 

Gomez Farias thus for a time disappeared from the 
history of Mexico. When Bustamente was expelled 
from his country he went to Europe, and amid the 
double-faced court of Louis Phihppe, was highly 
feted and honored. It is a matter of some self-congra- 
tulation that Farias sought the shores of the United 
States. Far be from us the design to impugn the 
motives of Bustamente, who seems to have won the 
hearts of all who came near him. The aristocratically 
disposed Madame Calderon, altogether EngHsh in her 
views, and consequently disposed to support with her 
ready and powerful pen that clique which would favor 
the interests of her country, and as the wife of a Spa- 
nish ambassador necessarily remembering that the re- 
presentative of the Spanish crown who preceded him, 
was a king in power and almost in station ; and the demo- 
cratic ambassador (comparatively speaking), all unite in 
giving testimony in favor of his honesty. Of this there 
is incontestible proof in the facts, that he laid down his 
public honors and his high power, poorer than when he 
entered the national palace as president, and in his long 
exile was indebted for all the civility he received, not to 
wealth, but worth. It may not be unsuitable here to 
refer to some of the incidents of the life of Busta- 
mente. 



236 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

When, in September 1810, Hidalgo and Allende 
raised the cry of independence, which gathered around 
them most of the true hearts of Mexico, Bustamente was 
about thirty years of age, a physician in the city of 
Guadalajara, which is about fifty leagues west of Mex- 
ico. He was already in possession in that career of 
some reputation, when he felt himself called on to 
abandon it to participate in the efforts being made 
against his countrymen, the insurgents, by Spaniards. 
During the four months which followed the first pro- 
nunciamento, he had under the orders of Calleja fought 
against the cura Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama, and Aba- 
solo, the four principal figures of the great scene of 
Mexican liberty. He was a participator as a subaltern, 
it is said, at the battle of Calderon, and acted so bravely 
as to attract general attention to him. The result of 
this sad battle has already been described, and we will not 
now follow Bustamente through the bloodstained episodes 
of this cruel war, every page of the history of which is 
interesting as it is horrible. Suffice it to say that at 
length he joined the patriots, disgusted at the outrages 
of Calleja and Vanegas, and became a general in the 
republican ranks. It is a pleasant task to say that one 
of the first efforts of his authority was to take down 
from the stakes to which they had been affixed, the 
heads of Hidalgo and his comrades, whom he had op- 
posed, and have them buried with the rites of the church; 
for they had been inhumanly treated as persons heretical 
and accursed. This was the year of the revolt of Itur- 
bide, to w^hom Bustamente was always loyal, and in 
which for the first time he found himself in direct 
opposition to Santa Anna, who was the first to declare 
against, as he had been the first to hail him the em- 
peror. 




Don Anastasio Bustaraente. 



FARIAS AND BUSTAMENTE. 237 

From this time to 1828, when the constitutional presi- 
dency was terminated, Bustamente participated in all 
affairs of state. On the 30th of November, an insur- 
rection broke out in the capital, for the purpose of an- 
nulling the election of Pedraza, who had succeeded 
Victoria, the consequence of which was the sacking of 
the seat of government, the expulsion of Pedraza, and 
the accession to power of Guerrero, who, though called 
vice-president, was the chief magistrate de facto. In the 
next year, Guerrero shared the fate of his predecessor, 
except that death, not exile, was his portion. 

In December, 1829, Bustamente commanded a divi- 
sion encamped at Jalapa, when, as happened often in 
that portion of the Roman republic Mexico has ever 
seemed to imitate, the soldiers proclaimed their general 
the ruler of their country. On the 18th of December, he 
set out for the capital, which he approached with his 
indefatigable soldiers with such rapidity, that Guerrero 
was unable to collect a sufficient force to oppose him, 
and deserted the seat of government, the defence of 
which he confided to a subordinate officer. Mexico can- 
not be approached from Jalapa without a great detour, ex- 
cept over a long and exposed bridge across the lakes 
which are on the western side of the city. This causeway 
existed in the time of Montezuma, and across it Cortes 
marched to destroy the Aztec empire. Its communica- 
tion was at the barrier of Gaudelupe, where, as well as 
at the national palace, earthen defences were hastily 
erected. The merchants who remembered that in the 
same month of the preceding year, Mexico had been 
pillaged, made other preparations for defence, and forti- 
fied their warehouses. All who have ever been in any 
city of Spanish America, are aware that every building 



238 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

is a castle, and iii the hands of brave men, would be a 
serious impediment to an enemy. 

Parties of civicos (armed citizens) also patrolled the 
streets. This body was created in imitation of the 
national guard of France; but instead of being the 
protectors, like them, of public liberty, are composed, 
generally, of the dregs of the populace; and always 
have been found ready to follow any enemy of pubhc 
peace. 

Bustamente had marched to within a few leagues of 
Mexico between the 18th and 24th. The night of the 
22d and 23d was very dark, and a thick mist hung, 
like an impenetrable veil, over the causeway, and con- 
cealed, from the sentinels at the barrier of Guadalupe, 
a black mass, which advanced rapidly towards this out- 
let of the city. At length, the body of men, for such 
was this mass, was discovered. 

'^ Quien anda?" cried the sentinel. ^^ Amigos^^ 
was the reply. " Qwe gente?^^ cried the sentinel again. 
" Tropas de Mejico." They were suffered to pass in un- 
der the impression that they were partisans of Guerrero ; 
and as they passed, the drowsy guards asked, " Donde 
han vmdes dejado Bustamente?^' (Where have you left 
Bustamente ?) and were amply satisfied by being told, 
at Cordova. 

Another, and yet another body of troops, were suf- 
fered to pass in a similar manner. 

At daybreak, these parties united into one column, 
and proceeded rapidly down the streets of San Francisco 
and Plateros, to the plaza del palacio, of which, as w^ell 
as of the terraces of the great palace, they took pos- 
session. In but a short time, a rumor was spread 
through the city, that a regiment of insurgents had 
passed the defences in disguise ; and crowds collected in 



FARIAS AND BUSTAMENTE. 239 

time to see them commence an attack on the startled 
garrison. Shot flew over the heads of the crowd ; but 
all were too anxious about the result to leave. Busta- 
mente at last entered the palace, and by energetic mea- 
sures restored tranquillity, and prevented any recurrence 
of the scenes of 1828. 

Thus was accomplished the victory of the Yorkinos 
over the Escoceses, referred to in the account of the 
presidency of Guerrero. Bustamente was for three 
years at the head of the government, which was in fact 
administered by Don Lucas Alaman. 

During his government he sought to endow Mexico 
with the benefits of art and manufactures, and es- 
tabhshed the banco de avio to protect them, and em- 
ployed eminent artisans of other countries to instruct 
the natives. Mexico continued, however, in a con- 
dition of turmoil, in consequence of the hostilities of 
Guerrero with Alvarez and Armijo, in the south of the 
republic, a state of affairs only terminated by the 
death of the unfortunate president. Of all participation 
in this the world has acquitted Bustamente, and 
attributed it to his minister Alaman, in the life of 
whom w^ill be fully detailed all its circumstances. 

In 1833, when Bustamente was replaced by Pe- 
draza, and Santa Anna become president, after the 
expiration of Pedraza's term, congress was induced by 
Santa Anna to banish a number of his enemies, among 
whom Bustamente had the honor to be included, and was 
sent under an escort to Vera Cruz, whence he expected 
to go to France. The ship which he purposed to sail 
in, was not however ready, and Santa Anna caused 
him to be confined in a hulk beneath the castle with 
the vilest criminals, an indignity base as it was useless. 

In 1836 he visited Europe, where he attracted much 



240 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

attention, and it is said devoted himself to the studies 
of the peaceful career he had adopted in early life. 

When Texas revolted he crossed the Atlantic, and 
asked to be permitted to draw his sword in defence of 
the rights of the Mexican nation he had once governed. 
He was more fortunate than he expected ; the im- 
prisonment of Santa Anna having allowed the nation to 
act as it pleased, he was chosen president on the 25th 
of January, 1837, and was inaugurated on the 20th of 
April of the same year. His opponents were General 
Bravo, his old minister Alaman, and Santa Anna. The 
latter, on his return, was accused of having sacrificed 
the interest of the nation by an onerous treaty he had 
concluded at Washington, but found Bustamente had 
forgotten all his private wrongs in the high functions of 
his office. 

A few days after his accession to power, Bustamente, 
to allay the impatience of his troops, who had long been 
unpaid, and the demands of whom the treasury was 
unable to meet, paid to them from his own funds, ten 
thousand dollars. He also concluded a definitive treaty 
with Spain on the 8th of May, by which that power 
finally consented to recognise the independence of 
Mexico, and renounced all hopes of conquering it. 

A severer ordeal for any ruler cannot be conceived 
than that to w^hich Bustamente w^as subjected. The 
Mexican people have ever been prone to attribute to the 
government all their misfortunes ; and the capture of 
San Juan by the French won for him many enemies. 
The penury of the country also added to his difficulties. 
Two years after this event, congress levied an impost 
of fifteen per centum on all articles brought into the 
city of Mexico. Commerce was already depressed, and 
this circumstance but added to the public distress ; the 



FARIAS AND BUSTAMENTE. 241 

many murmurs which were raised by the people, were 
eagerly taken advantage of. There has always been in 
Mexico a party of sincere men, lovers of the system of 
government of the United States, who neglect no op- 
portunity to achieve their country's independence, who 
were on this occasion headed by Farias. A series of 
fights occurred, which filled up the whole space between 
the 12th and the 27th of July, the result of which has been 
already described in the preceding part of this chapter, 
and the effect of which was that Farias was driven 
into exile. There is, however, one episode which de- 
serves particular mention. On one occasion the cannon 
had beaten in the wall of the national palace, and it was 
evident all would soon be over. The staff and friends 
of Bustamente besought him to fly, but he refused, say- 
ing that honor and duty required him to remain. Just 
then a band rushed into the room, crying, " Death to 
Bustamente!" The president advanced towards them, 
threw off his cloak, and showed them his glittering uni- 
form. This intrepidity saved his life, for the insurgents 
withdrew without daring to lift a hand against the 
representative of their nation. The popular cause, how- 
ever, was but partially successful ; congress removed 
the new tax, and Bustamente retained his power. In 
the course of but a few months, a new revolution broke 
out which changed the state of affairs. Bustamente, 
disgusted with power, resigned and returned to Europe 
in the months of September and October, 1842. He 
passed some time in travelling, and finally established 
himself in Genoa, where he remained until the new 
troubles of 1844 and 1845 induced him again to seek 
his native land. 

In June, 1845, Santa Anna arrived at Havana, in the 
English steamer Medway, and met Bustamente on his 
16 



242 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

way to Mexico. Had the ex- dictator gone to New Or- 
leans, he would have met Farias on a similar voyage. 
In the two victims of his last ambitious intrigue, he read 
a lesson that honesty is the best policy, for, though 
widely differing in opinions, both Bustamente and Farias 
are equally honest. 

Both Bustamente and Farias have since participated 
in public affairs in a civil capacity ; the one having been 
president of the congress at the time of Paredes' inaugu- 
ration, and the other having contributed to the revolution 
which restored Santa Anna. 

Events have recently occurred which change the 
whole aspect of affairs, and have produced a state of 
things which may conduce ultimately to the salvation of 
Mexico, provided that country does not blindly shut her 
eyes to the demonstrations of experience, and confide in 
the pretence of a false republicanism, which must fade 
before the truth of institutions more liberal in character 
and faithfully executed. 

The president, Bustamente, must not be confounded 
with his kinsmen Don Carlos Bustamente, celebrated 
as the author and editor of many works on Mexican his- 
tory and the memorials of the Aztec race, and Don Jose 
Maria Bustamente, well known as a botanist and con- 
tributor to the natural history of his country. The whole 
family are said to be distinguished by high talent and 
devotion to Mexico. 




Don Marin no Paredt 



CHAPTER IX. 

MARIANO PAREDES Y ARRILLAGA AND DON JUAN 
NEPOMUCENO ALMONTE. 

Election of Herrera — Paredes pronounces against him — Herrera 
deposed — Paredes elected President — Deposed — Imprisoned 
— Escapes to Europe — Almonte — Battle of San Jacinto — 
Almonte sent minister to England and France — ^His char- 
acter. 

General Paredes is a new man in the history of 
Mexico, though one of its oldest soldiers, having parti- 
cipated in all the events which have occurred since the 
days of Iturbide. He first appears in the history of 
his country when the revolution of 1840, the one which 
overthrew Bustamente, occurred. 

General Paredes was one of the persons whom Bus- 
tamente had especially trusted, yet he was one of those 
who first pronounced against him, and evidently was 
one of the prime movers of the revolution ; having been 
referred to pointedly by General Valencia, in his pro- 
clamation of August 30, 1841, in the same paragraph 
in which he mentions Santa Anna and Cortazar, who 
avowedly planned the whole movement. 

At this time Paredes commanded at Queretaro, nearly 
north of the city, and in the direction of Guanajuato, 
and Bustamente marched against him, but was forced 
to return on account of intelligence he had received that 
Santa Anna was advancing to the capital from the direc- 
tion of Jalapa and Vera Cruz. 

There is little doubt that Paredes was very influen- 
tial in this whole movement; and was understood to 



244 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

speak the sentiments of the people of Jalisco, Zacatecas, 
Aguas Calientes, Queretaro, and the other mining dis- 
tricts, which had become aware that their mineral wealth 
could only be turned to advantage by the employment 
of foreign capital, and were eager for a repeal of those 
organic laws which prohibited foreigners from acquiring 
real estate (which, by-the-by, he has always been 
anxious to eifect), religious toleration, &c. Whether he 
was sincere in this has appeared a mystery, as in the 
revolt of Farias, two months previously, he was known 
to have opposed that person with all his power. When 
the crisis, however, came, Paredes refused positively to 
accept the executive office, and insisted on its being 
conferred on Santa Anna. His reasons for this have 
been supposed to be that he was aware, as a general in 
command of a strong division, he would always be able 
to exert much influence, and at least take care of him- 
self; while as president, he might, at any moment, be 
unseated, and driven into exile. On the 7th of October, 
the revolution terminated, leaving Santa Anna, where 
every change had contributed to place him, in power. 
One thing here occurred, which shows that both Santa 
Anna and Paredes estimated alike the value of the army 
at Guanajuato. It was proposed to make Paredes 
minister of war and marine ; a compliment he declined, 
as he was aware its intention w^as to separate him from 
his division. 

As previously stated, Santa Anna continued at the 
head of affairs as dictator until the first of January, 
1844, when he was installed as president. In the course 
of less than one year, a revolution broke out, the result 
of which was his deposition, and the election of Herrera 
to replace him. 

Santa Anna has always been in advance even of the 



PAKEDES AND ALMONTE. 245 

most enlightened of his countrymen, and was aware of 
"the power of the United States. As soon as he saw 
that the annexation of Texas was inevitable, he pre- 
pared to submit to it, and sought gradually to bring over 
the Mexican people to his opinion. The consequence 
was, that towards the end of 1844, the views he had gra- 
dually begun to promulgate, were received with marked 
disfavor ; and Paredes placed himself at the head of a 
spontaneous movement which pervaded the whole of 
Mexico, and resulted in the deposition and banishment 
of Santa Anna. When Paredes commenced this revolt 
he had twenty-five thousand men at his orders, to oppose 
which Santa Anna could muster but about six thousand, 
and thirty pieces of artillery, a proof the people sided 
with the former. 

We will not repeat here the details of this emeute, 
which have been fully given in the life of Santa Anna, 
but will content ourselves with referring briefly to the 
immediate consequences of this one of the many changes 
of the Mexican government. 

Many years since, a band of Indians of the Ojibway 
race, were sent by their tribe to Washington city, to ar- 
range some of the many difficulties perpetually occurring 
where the white and red man come in contact. It need 
not be said that on their journey, every care was taken 
that the sons of the forest should see all that passed around 
them, and all the wonders of the pale faces. They finally 
returned home, having settled the business on which 
they had been sent, loaded with presents, but, as their 
brethren thought, having betrayed their interests. A 
general council of the nation was called, and the envoys 
were required to account for their acts. They told of 
the wonders of the city of St. Louis, with its thousand 
wigwams and twelve thousand inhabitants (this was 
11 



246 MEXICO AND HEK MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

twenty years ago) ; of Louisville, of the steamboats, and 
of the vast cities of the east, and were listened to with 
astonishment, but were believed. While the envoys 
were in the United States there chanced to be exhibit- 
ing himself, along the frontier, an eastern juggler, 
who, among other feats, amused the audience by swal- 
lowing a sword, and pulling ribbons from his mouth, by 
some peculiar legerdemain. The Ojibway council had 
believed all the astonishing accounts in relation to the 
power of the government ; it had swallowed the histo- 
ries by which the envoys had been imposed on, but 
would not hear one word in relation to the steam engines 
which manufactured cloth and ribbon, for they had seen 
the juggler pull them from his mouth. Arguing a pos- 
teriori, they disbelieved all former tales, said that the 
envoys were liars and unfit to live, and by the summary 
judgments of the Indian territory, put them at once to 
death. This was natural enough, for the world always 
measures what it hears by the events of its own expe- 
rience. 

So it was with Santa Anna ; previous to the war of 
Mexico, he used to talk gravely of taking, some day, the 
city of New Orleans from the United States, and w, s 
not a little surprised when he found himself a prisoner, 
and at the mercy of a mere abrasion of that people. 

On his way through the United States, he had 
learned how vain it was to contend against it, and 
sought on his return to import to his countrymen the 
rational views he had imbibed. The people of Mexico 
beheved that his army had been routed in Texas ; they 
had seen the fugitive and maimed soldiers, but they 
could not realize the information he bore them, that it 
was better for the magnanimous Mexican people to 
lose Texas irretrievably, than engage in war with a 



PAREDES AND ALMONTE. 247 

nation the people of which would possibly not be satis- 
fied till they had reached as far south as San Luis 
Potosi, if they did not insist on unfurling their banner 
over the halls of Mexico. This information, gathered 
by so painful an experience, could not be appreciated 
by the people of Mexico, and enabled Paredes to com- 
mence his revolt. 

Those who have followed us in this rambling sketch 
of the revolutions of Mexico, have become aware that 
nowhere has power so little security, or does office hold 
forth less inducement, than in the Mexican nation. 
The supreme power has, since the first outbreak of 
Hidalgo, been occupied by more than forty persons, 
who, with the exception of those who have died by the 
bullet and the bayonet, have seemed determined to 
make good Mr. Jefferson's description of office-holders 
in other countries, " that few die, and none resign." 

Herrera was unable long to keep possession of the 
presidency. Paredes pronounced against him, and in 
union with Arista contrived to depose him. The pre- 
text for this movement was a charge that Herrera 
sought to dismember the Mexican union by treating 
with the United States ; and the army of reserve, 
stationed at San Luis and Monterey, w^as advanced to 
the city of Mexico, and the troops of Herrera gave in 
their adhesion to the more successful Paredes. 

This resolution was momentous to Mexico, the 
American minister immediately leaving the country, 
and Mexico proceeding to adopt a line of policy which 
made inevitable that war which, in spite of all occur- 
rences, must terminate by placing her at the mercy of a 
more powerful adversary. 

After having for some six months exercised the 
supreme power, the congress convened and proceeded 



248 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

to re-organize the executive branch, which had not been 
legally occupied since the ejection of Herrera, and on the 
12th of June Paredes was elected president, receiving 
fifty-eight out of eighty-three votes. General Bravo 
received thirteen, and Herrera seven. Bravo was then 
elected vice-president. After having been installed on 
the 13th, Paredes obtained permission to take command 
of the army, confiding the administration of the govern- 
ment to Bravo, who was recalled from Vera Cruz. 
The events of the war belong to another story than 
this ; and it only remains to state that various pronun- 
ciamentos were made during the month of July, 1846, 
to which, on the 31st, the garrison of Vera Cruz, 
headed by Generals Landero and Perez, acceded, thus 
permitting Santa Anna to return, which he immedi- 
ately did. Bravo assumed at once the title of provi- 
sional president. General Salas almost immediately 
seized on Paredes and imprisoned him in the citadel of 
Mexico, where he was confined until the latter part of 
September, when he escaped and proceeded to Ha- 
vana. It is said that in Europe he is now perseve- 
ringly attempting to induce the governments of France 
and England to interfere in the existing war, in behalf 
of Mexico. 

The motives of this pronunciamento have been much 
discussed, and it is unfortunate that the interruption of 
intercourse prevents its being more fully understood, by 
means of information from Mexicans, who alone could 
solve the mystery which hangs around it. The govern- 
ment of the United States, there is no doubt, contributed 
to effect it, by suffering Santa Anna to pass, on his re- 
turn, through a blockading squadron, a thing now not 
denied, if it ever was. Why it did so seems obvious. 
This distinguished chieftain would doubtless be a formi- 



PAREDES AND ALMONTE. 249 

dable antagonist at the head of the Mexican army ; but 
there was no doubt that the men who conquered at Palo 
Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and in front of Matamoras, 
the Mexican troops commanded by Ampudia, could 
conquer again the same men, commanded by Santa 
Anna ; while it was obvious, that by the return of the 
latter to Mexico, a cabal which was headed by Paredes, 
who, for that purpose, had deposed Herrera, to place at 
the head of the Mexican government a Spanish or 
French prince, would certainly be frustrated. The 
event justified the means: the Bourbonists were de- 
feated, and Paredes forced to seek protection among 
the kings for whom he would have sacrificed the inde- 
pendence of Mexico. 

Don Juan Nepumoceno Almonte, so favorably knovm 
in this country, where he has long resided, is said to be 
a natural son of the distinguished General Morelos. In 
Mexico, where some time since the celibacy of the 
priests was scarcely a matter of profession even, the 
fact has never been denied ; and the picture of the priest 
of Nucupetaro is said by travellers to have hung in the 
house of Almonte, and to have been treated with that 
respect which would scarcely be elicited by the picture 
of one not a relation. When Santa Anna marched 
against Texas, we first find the name of Almonte oc- 
cupying a prominent position. In the massacres which 
will long serve to render the name of the Mexican sol- 
dier an approbrium, and which disgrace that campaign, 
we do not find, for a long time, any account of Almonte, 
and when we do, it is in the act of performing a military 
duty, and exhibiting a presence of mind which seemed 
to have deserted all others. 

At the battle of San Jacinto, when the Texans made 
the famous charge with their clubbed rifles and bowie- 



250 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

knives, which won the day, so utterly unused were the 
Mexicans to such an attack, that it never occurred to 
them either to resist or surrender. Trusting exclusively 
to flight, they were soon overtaken by the hardy western 
hunters who composed the mass of Houston's force, and 
indiscriminately slaughtered. General Almonte, seeing 
that the fight was over, called around him a few officers, 
and by great efforts contrived to surrender the remnant 
of that army with which Santa Anna had boasted he 
would encamp on the Sabine. By the terms of the 
capitulation, Almonte returned to Mexico, where he 
found all things in disorder, the cause of his friend and 
patron, Santa Anna, ruined, and Bustamente seated in 
the chair of state. He was, it is said, very poor, but 
had by his talents made himself so well known, that the 
new government was glad to avail itself of his talents 
as minister of war. When the pronunciamento of Urrea 
and Farias occurred, Almonte adhered to the president, 
and on one occasion distinguished himself by the same 
courage which was so pre-eminent at San Jacinto. 
When the first overt act was made, Almonte chanced 
to be in the street, and was met by Urrea at the head 
of few soldiers, who asked for his sword, saying, at the 
same time, the president was arrested. Almonte drew 
his sword, but instead of surrendering it cut his way 
through the insurgents, and reached the citadel, where 
he conaerted the measures which enabled Bustamente to 
repress the revolution of July. Urrea immediately 
retraced his steps, and passing the house of Almonte, 
discovered his lady at the window, of whom, as quietly 
as if nothing had occurred, he asked after her husband's 
health. Her astonishment may well be conceived, 
when, not long afterward, she heard what had hap- 
pened. When the revolution in the fall of the year 




Street in Mexico during the Revolution of 1S40. 



PARADES AND ALMONTE. 251 

deprived Bustamente of power, Almonte left office with 
a great portion of his salary undrawn, and was so poor 
that, previously to his appointment as ambassador to the 
United States, he supported himself by delivering po- 
pular lectures in the capital on scientific subjects. 

General Almonte resided long in this country, making 
many personal friendships, which have not been inter- 
rupted by the occurrence of national difficulties ; and 
finally returned to Mexico. When diplomatic inter- 
course was terminated by the retirement of Mr. Shannon 
from the city of Mexico, he continued high in favor with 
Santa Anna, until the cabal arose which exiled him; 
and even while the dictator was in prison, worked in his 
favor with such zeal, that more than once it was doubt- 
ful if he would not be removed from the citadel, where 
he was a prisoner, to the national palace as president. 
These efforts, however, were unavailing ; and, when all 
was over with his friend, Almonte was sent, in a diplo- 
matic capacity, to the courts of France and England. 
He repaired thither by way of Havana, where he saw 
and had much intercourse with General Santa Anna. 
Whether it be that the appointment he had received 
was a ruse to remove him from Mexico, or that Herrera 
had become alarmed at the results of his conference with 
the ex-dictator, cannot now be determined ; but his mis- 
sion was immediately revoked. He returned to Havana, 
where he remained until the recall of Santa Anna, under 
■whom he has filled important functions. 

Few men in Mexico are more favorably known. He 
is brave, cultivated, and intelligent ; and is likely to rise 
to a more exalted position than he has yet reached, 
having now the respect and support of the better class 
of his countrymen, of all phases of political opinions. 



CHAPTER X. 

DON MARIANO ARISTA AND OTHER GENERAL 
OFFICERS. 

Arista — Jarochos — Campaign in the department of "Vera Cruz — 
Duran's insurrection — Insurrection quelled — Arista ordered 
to the Rio Grande — Ampudia — Battle of Mier — Naval action 
— La Vega. 

When Santa Anna was governor of Vera Cruz, in 
1828 rthe crisis of the cabals between the Yorkinos and 
Escoceses), Arista was a colonel and his aid-de-camp, 
and participated in the attempt made with success, on 
the castle of Perote. When the congress, in conse- 
quence, declared Santa Anna an outlaw. Arista was also 
included in the decree, and for a long series of years 
participated in all his fortunes. To Arista, who has the 
reputation of being one of the best cavalry officers in the 
world, it is not improbable Santa Anna was indebted for 
the formation of that famous corps of men, with whom 
he commenced the rambling campaign over the whole 
department of Vera Cruz, which first established the 
future dictator's reputation as a soldier, and in spite of 
all other checks he may have experienced, will place 
Santa Anna's fame as an officer and brave man, beyond 
all dispute. 

These men were all from the tierra caliente, of mixed 
Spanish, Aztec, and negro blood, as we have said be- 
fore, proof against weather and fever, very Arabs in 
constitution, while, from their vicinity to the mountains 
of the tierra templada, they are enabled to acquire the 
agility of the chamois hunters of the alps. Their horses 




Don Mariano Arista. 



ARISTA. 253 

were like them, wild looking and small, but hardy as 
their riders. Their arms were the lance and carbine, 
and their food, whatever they could find. The head of 
this corps, which, in emergencies, could always be in- 
creased indefinitely by all the rancheros or herdsmen of 
the district it chanced to occupy, was Arista. Empha- 
tically a hombre de caballo, or horseman he was, it is 
said, able to perform feats of horsemanship amid the bat- 
tle when squadrons were charging around him, that one 
of Franconi's pupils, with the readiest eye and boldest 
seat, would scarcely attempt in the arena. 

The result of this campaign we have already 
described, and we will only say here, that though the 
forces of Santa Anna were finally driven into Oaxaca, 
and almost destroyed, yet he had distracted the atten- 
tion of Pedraza's government so long that Guerrero 
was ultimately enabled to triumph. When Santa Anna 
became secretary of war under Guerrero, Arista w^as 
not neglected, and was made use of to keep up his in- 
fluence in the tierra caliente, until Santa Anna thought 
proper to instal Pedraza again. 

In the expedition against the last Spanish invaders, 
Arista also figured, and received a large portion of the 
rewards of the success. When Bustamente was de- 
posed, Arista was yet the main-spring of all the plots 
of the period, though apparently occupied solely with 
the discharge of his duties as brigadier and commander 
of a department. In this movement Arista also figured 
as chief of the Jorochos, or men from the tierra caliente, 
who exalted Santa Anna to power in 1832. Towards 
the end of 1833 happened one of those ridiculous 
scenes, which, like the ecclesiastical nolo episcopari, or 
Caesar's refusal of the crown, have occurred in every 
country. General Duran, who commanded in Valli- 
11* 



254 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

dolid or Morelia, having commenced an insurrection for 
the purpose of proclaiming Santa Anna dictator, the 
latter patriotic and self-sacrificing individual was stirred 
with the greatest indignation, and as the depository of 
law and power, immediately marched to give the world 
an example of that superhuman virtue which made old 
Rome so illustrious. He was of course accompanied by 
his fidus Achates, General Arista. The latter, how- 
ever, was no Roman, but a genuine Mexican, and 
immediately proposed to the president to let General 
Duran have his way, and to accept the gre^itness thrust 
upon him. Santa Anna was indignant, and told Arista 
that an acquaintance of so many years' standing should 
have taught him to appreciate his public virtue, and 
ordered him to be silent for ever on the subject. Arista 
immediately declared that he would not obey him ; that 
his first duty was to his country, and that if Santa 
Anna would not consent to be the savior of Mexico 
willingly, he would make him serve her. 

Arista immediately joined Duran with a large body 
of troops, many of whom, strangely enough, were Ja- 
rochos, or men from the tierra caliente, to whom we 
have previously referred as being so devoted to Santa 
Anna. In the course of this contest, in which there 
were many manoeuvres and no men killed but a few 
known to adhere to the republican vice-president, Gomez 
Farias, Santa Anna was made prisoner and returned to 
Mexico, whither the revolt of Duran had extended, the 
garrison of the citadel and the city having given their 
adhesion to it. Farias opposed it ; but the honor of 
suppressing it was reserved for Santa Anna. This 
bene merito of the country then marched against Arista 
and Duran, whom he forced to capitulate (need we say 
the terms were not severe), and retired to Mango de 



ARISTA. 255 

Clavo, intrusting the administration to Farias until new 
events occurred. 

We here lose sight of Arista for a long time, during 
which he was at Cincinnati, in the United States, in exile. 
In connexion with this period of his life, an interesting 
anecdote is told. Having been disappointed in the 
receipt of funds, he was in great distress, and worked 
for some time as a journeyman tinman, until circum- 
stances relieved him from necessity. When the French 
landed at Vera Cruz, Arista, the story goes, was found 
in Santa Anna's house, and surrendered to the Prince de 
Joinville, who is, by the French authorities, said to have 
headed the party directed especially against Santa Anna. 
In the rest of the career of the dictator until his exile, 
Arista remained with him ; and when war became immi- 
nent, having been assigned to the command of the army 
of Mexico on the north, was ordered with reinforce- 
ments to the Rio Grande, where Ampudia commanded. 
The two acted in concert, and contrived to lose battle 
after battle in the most unprecedented manner, and to 
march and countermarch between Monterey and the 
Rio Grande without opposing even a momentary check 
to the American general. This circumstance gives us 
the clue to the character of Arista. He had not, in all 
his early career, exercised any important command, and 
his master-mind, Santa Anna, being absent, he was 
altogether inadequate to the emergency of his situation. 
The quarrel between Arista and Ampudia consequent 
on the battle of La Resaca, might explain these events 
to the advantage of the former and to the Mexican 
people. This, however, is a task incumbent on a 
Mexican, and cannot be done satisfactorily till the war 
shall have ended. 



256 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

Don Pedro de Ampudia has very long been an of- 
ficer of the Mexican army, and became a general after 
Santa Anna had deposed Bustamente in 1840. He par- 
ticipated in many of the events of the Mexican expedi- 
tions against Texas. His hrst prominent service was in 
1842, when a Mexican foray, headed by General Woh], 
was made against the frontier of Texas, and many citi- 
zens were imprisoned and carried off. It has been said 
that this expedition was never authorized by the Mexi- 
can government, but w^as composed entirely of rancheros, 
who w^ere collected by the hope of plunder. Houston, 
the president of Texas, immediately ordered out eight 
hundred volunteers to rendezvous at San Antonio, on the 
27th of October, to oppose the force of Wohl, which 
consisted of thirteen hundred men. The command of 
this expedition belonged to General Summerville, w^ho, 
however, on his arrival at San Antonio, found many per- 
sons willing to dispute the command with him. The 
troops, however, finally obeyed him, and he marched to 
the Rio Grande and took possession of the town of Loredo. 
Before reaching this place, many symptoms of mutiny 
occurred, and after he had left it, two hundred Texans, 
in open defiance of his authority, marched back and 
pillaged the inhabitants of everything worth being car- 
ried off. This occurrence, so very disgraceful, and 
which would have placed Texas and her people on a 
level with the brigands of Wohl, had it been approved 
of, determined General Summerville to retrograde, which 
was certainly the course otherwise dictated by policy, as 
it was obvious that the people of the Rio Grande were 
too poor to support his forces, and he had not men 
enough to make any permanent impression on Mexico. 

At this juncture the excitement became universal, and 
the men so clamorous, that a council of officers w^as 



AMPUDIA. 257 

convened to decide on the course of the expedition, 
the result of which was, that a few already disgusted 
by what had occurred, returned home, but the majority 
continued their march. It is much to be regretted that 
Summerville did not accompany those who returned. 
He, however, continued as far as Guerrero, with no other 
intention than plunder. This was a miserable village 
where the people are poor and starving, without mines, 
agricultural wealth, or any other inducement, yet it was 
besieged. This circumstance so terrified the people that 
they sought by presents to propitiate the officers of the 
expedition, to prevent the recurrence of such a scene as 
had taken place at Loredo. There w^as much dissatis- 
faction among the men, who, however, resolved to con- 
tinue on to Mier, a town of considerable importance. 

Here, General Summerville became disgusted ; and, 
as ammunition had begun to fail, did what he should 
have done long before, called on his men to return. One 
hundred obeyed him ; and the rest, under another com- 
mander, resolved to attack Mier. The force which re- 
mained consisted of about two hundred and seventy 
men ; and it is a mystery how they contrived to keep 
together, as their ideas of military obedience w^ere of 
the rudest kind. Who really commanded is even now 
uncertain. A message was sent to the alcalde, calling 
for a contribution of five thousand dollars ; and, when 
informed that all the money that could or would be 
be extorted was one hundred and seventy-three dol- 
lars, the oflScers determined to attack the town, though 
aware that Don Pedro de Ampudia was within it, at the 
head of a large force. 

On Christmas day, the town was attacked; and, 
when night came on, the Texan force, under a heavy 
fire, was slowly forcing its way into the streets. It 
17 



258 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

cannot be denied, unholy as the object of the expedition 
was become, the mass of its members being attracted by 
the desire of pkmdering the Mexican churches, and by 
the lawless pleasures of a partisan war, the officers and 
men fought with that courage and perseverance which 
have been conspicuous through the whole war of Texan 
independence. They at last reached a house where they 
were protected from the ordnance of Ampudia, and the 
contest was suspended until the next morning. 

The Mexicans then advanced to the attack, and 
assault after assault failed, the officers being con- 
spicuous by their insignia, and falling, one after the 
other, before the deadly aim of the Texan rifle. Am- 
pudia at last sent an officer with a white flag to offer 
terms, which, after much deliberation, were accepted. 
The terms were, that they were to be surrendered as 
prisoners of war. The loss of Ampudia in this action is 
said to have exceeded five hundred men ; a thing likely 
enough, as he acknowledged to have lost two hundred. 
The Texans had twelve men killed and eighteen 
wounded ; and the survivors no sooner were in his 
power, than they were chained two together, and every 
stipulation of the surrender, except that which secured 
their lives, violated. 

The events of this expedition have been the subject 
of much comment. The captured Texans were taken to 
various prisons, and a large party were long employed 
in laboring on the streets of Tacubaya. While on 
their march to the city of Mexico, they, on one occa- 
sion, overpowered the guard, and seized its arms, a cir- 
cumstance of which advantage was taken by Santa 
Anna, to order them all to be shot. This sentence was 
afterwards relaxed, and every tenth man was made an 
example of. 



AMPUDIA. 259 

Ampudia was, for his conduct on this occasion, much 
applauded ; and we ahnost lose sight of him until the 
army of the United' States approached the Rio Grande, 
when he was placed in command of the district around 
Matamoras, in which were Loredo and Mier, the scenes 
of his former triumphs. 

Ampudia has, however, made himself infamous by an 
act of brutality, unequalled for many centuries in a 
civilized country. In the summer of 1844, the Mexi- 
can General Sentmanat, exiled by Santa Anna, made a 
rash attempt on the town of Tobasco, at the head of but 
fifty men, so confident was he of being supported by the 
population. The vessel which bore them was taken by 
a Mexican man-of-war, and this forlorn hope was sur- 
rendered to Ampudia. The unfortunate general w^as, 
w^th fourteen of his companions, shot ; and their heads, 
the monster Ampudia states in his despatch, he caused 
to be hoiled in oil, and hung in iron cages to the walls 
of the town. 

General Sentmanat had lived long in New Orleans, 
where he married, and had many friends ; and the news 
of his death was received with a burst of indignation, 
which may account for the prejudice entertained in the 
United States against Ampudia more than against any 
other Mexican general. 

Immediately after the battle of Mier, which took 
place in December 1842, General Ampudia assumed com- 
mand of the army, more than ten thousand strong, which 
had been for two months besieging the city of Campeche, 
(Yucatan), which port was also blockaded by the entire 
naval force of Mexico, consisting of three steamers, two 
brigs, and two schooners, under the command of Admi- 
ral Lopez. Campeche held out nobly, and on the fol- 
lowing April, 1843, that port was relieved by the arrival 



260 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

of Commodore E. W. Moore, of the Texan navy, who 
had been detained in New Orleans for the want of 
means to fit out ; which, although they had been appro- 
priated by the Texan congress in July, 1842, w^ere most 
unaccountably withheld by President Houston at that 
time, who controlled the destiny of Texas. 

The government of Yucatan furnished Commodore 
Moore with means to get to sea, with which and the 
aid of friends in New Orleans, he sailed from that 
port on the 15th of April, 1843, in command of the 
sloop-of-war Austin, mounting eighteen (medium) twen- 
ty-four-pounders, and two eighteens, accompanied by 
the brig Wharton, Captain Lothrop, mounting sixteen 
(medium) eighteen-pounders. With these two vessels, 
which were well manned and thoroughly equipped, 
Commodore Moore sailed for Campeche, where he 
arrived on the 30th of April, and attacked the whole 
Mexican fleet, which after an action of over an hour, 
hauled off — but renewed the fight again during the 
interim of calm between the land and sea breeze ; their 
steam giving them great advantage, besides their great 
superiority in weight of metal. Commodore Moore had 
in the meantime been joined by four gun-boats, which 
came out from Campeche ; the action this time lasted 
but little over half an hour, when the Mexicans again 
hauled off. On the l6th of May another engagement 
took place, which lasted more than four hours, the particu- 
lars of which would exhibit, in the Texan naval forces, the 
existence of the gallantry which has ever characterized 
<^he same arm of the public service of the United States. 

Commodore Moore made repeated efforts to engage 
Ae enemy prior to the last action, (May 16th), which 
was fought by Commodore Don Thomas Marine, Admi- 
ral Lopez having been arrested and sent to Vera Cruz 



AMPUDU. ' 261 

for trial, for not capturing the two Texan vessels. 
Commodore Moore had one-fourth of his force killed 
and wounded, but he made repeated efforts to bring on 
another battle, which Commodore Marine, the Mexican 
commander, avoided, his steam enabling him to do so 
whenever he chose. 

On the night of the 26th of June, the Mexican army 
embarked on board of their vessels of war and a few 
transports (it having been reduced full one-half by the 
vomito and desertions), and fell back toTobasco, where 
General Ampudia remained until the summer of 1844 ; 
whence he was transferred after his barbarous course 
towards the gallant Sentmanat. 

The following was the force of the Mexican navy : 
Steamer Montezuma, two sixty-eights and six forty- 
twos, Paxihan guns. 

Steamer Guadalupe, two sixty-eight Paixhans and 
two long thirty-twos. 

Steamer Rejenerador, one long thirty- two and two 
long nines. 

Schooner Eagle, one long thirty-two and six eigh- 
teens, all Paixhans. 

Brig Yucateco, one long eighteen and sixteen eigh- 
teen-pound carronades. 

Brig Yman, one long twelve and eight six-po^unders. 
Schooner Campecheano, one long nine and two six- 
pounders. 

This is the first time that steam and sail vessels had 
ever come in contact, and Commodore Moore beat 
these three steamers (two of them armed with heavy 
Paixhan guns), they having a sail force co-operating with 
them, fully equal to the force of the two Texan vessels. 
It was also the first time that Paixhan guns had be^n 
used in a naval combat. 



262 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

The reason why Commodore Moore ventured on 
such an unequal contest, was to save Galveston, the 
principal port of Texas, from an attack as soon as Yuca- 
tan had surrendered, which she was on the eve of doing, 
the preliminaries having been agreed on between Gene- 
ral Ampudia and Governor Meredez, of Yucatan, who 
was in command of the troops at Campeche, and the 
articles of compromise were to have been signed the 
very day, April 30th, 1843, that Commodore Moore 
arrived off Campeche, and defeated the Mexican 
squadron. 

Comment is useless upon the value that the little navy 
of Texas was to that republic, in her struggle for independ- 
ence, by keeping her ports open, and the entire coast 
clear of all Mexican cruisers, from the year 1839 to the 
treaty of annexation, when the Texas navy was laid up in 
ordinary, (protection having been then guarantied by the 
government of the United States.) Although tioo procla- 
mations of blockade of the ports of Texas were pub- 
lished by the Mexican authorities, one in 1839 and the 
other in 1840, the Mexican vessels of war were kept in 
their own ports, and many of their merchant vessels were 
captured by the Texan cruisers under Commodore 
Moore, who was all the while off the Mexican coast 
with some of the vessels under his command, up to the 
summer of 1842. At this time he went into New Or- 
leans to refit, which he was prevented from doing by the 
extraordinary course of President Houston, already men- 
tioned, who withheld the appropriations of congress for 
that purpose, and left Commodore Moore to keep up the 
navy with his own means and resourceG, which he did 
for upwards of nine months, and finally fitted them out 
for a cruise without a dollar from his government. 
He was proclaimed a traitor and pirate hy the presi- 



LA VEGA. 263 

dent of Texas for this course, but nobly sustained by 
the people and congress of the republic. 

This proclamation of Houston's was published in 
Texas the same day that Commodore Moore fought the 
overwhelming force of the enemy for more than four 
hours, and chased them, as Commissioner Morgan says 
in his testimony before the court martial ordered by the 
congress of Texas at the urgent request of Commodore 
Moore, " so far to sea that he could not see us from the 
top of the house he was on in Campeche." 

The resolutions of the people of Matagorda and Gal- 
veston counties contain some interesting statements and 
show the feelings of the people. Meetings were also 
held in. many of the other counties of the republic, and 
the disapprobation of the people expressed in strong 
terms, of the course pursued by President Houston 
towards the commodore of the little navy of Texas. 

The conduct of Ampudia sin?V; the war, has been 
much censured by his countrymen, and in the United 
States many have been found willing to decry him. He 
has had, undeniably, great difficulties to contend with, 
and has scarcely had an opportunity to act otherwise 
than he has done. He was in command of men pre- 
pared to be conquered, who had a great disinclination 
to meet the American army, and who had, it will be 
remembered by all, mutinied at San Luis, when first 
ordered to the frontier. He appears, in spite of all evi- 
dence^ to have done his duty as long as any of his brethren. 
He has since been arrested, and though released, now 
occupies no prominent position. 

Don RoMULo DE LA Yega is a soldier by profession, 
and when the war broke out only occupied the rank of 
colonel of infantry, with the title or brevet of general 
of brigade. He has won much reputation in this 



264 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

country since the war, having previously been entirely 
unknown. He has been stationed for many years on the 
northern frontier of Mexico, and was for a long time 
xe,fe, militar of the department in w^hich Monclova 
is situated. At the battle of the 9th of May he was 
taken prisoner while fighting, and having been ex- 
changed, was again captured at Cerro Gordo during 
the present campaign. It has been stated that General 
La Vega has not made the return which might have 
been expected from so brave a man, for the hospitality 
and consideration extended to him, and that on his 
return to Mexico he suffered American officers who 
had been captured to continue in prisons not fit recep- 
tacles for military men. It may be doubted, however, 
if he has ever had the power to change their situation. 
He is, it w^ill be remembered, only a brigadier, with 
many superiors, and with little influence. His gallantry 
has, it seems, been appreciated in Mexico, where he has 
since his return received promotion, and had confided to 
him an important command, a rare compliment to be 
bestowed on an unfortunate soldier. Whether he de- 
serves this applause, may be doubted ; for many have 
always been disposed to think, that when victory is 
hopeless, the bravest soldier may be permitted to think 
of himself. 

General La Vega is young and handsome, with an 
appearance altogether prepossessing, and manners that 
won at once the sympathy and friendship of the officers 
of the army of the United States, into the society of 
\vhom he was cast. The last advices from Mexico 
represent him as a prisoner at Jalapa, where, however, 
he is not, and probably will not be subjected to re- 
straint, unless a guerilla war should force upon the 



LA VEGA. 265 

government of the United States a course of reprisals, and 
a more severe system than has hitherto been adopted by 
them towards prisoners of war. General La Vega, it 
is said, while in the United States, became engaged to 
be married to a lady of New Orleans, to whom on the 
termination of the war he will be united. He no 
doubt devoutly prays for this consummation of his 
wishes. 



CHAPTER XI. 

DON LUCAS ALAMAN AND DON JOAQUIN HERREFA. 

Alaman — His personal appearance — Character — ^Visits Europe 
— Appointed minister of foreign affairs — Reforms in the go- 
vernment of Mexico — Execution of Guerrero — Banco de avio 
— Revolution — Alaman again elevated to office — Bustamente 
deposed — Alaman establishes a cotton manufactory — His 
failure — Made minister of foreign affairs in 1842 — Herrera 
—His character. 

"About the end of eighteen hundred and thirty," 
says a French writer, " there occurred at Mexico a mys- 
terious circumstance, which kept public curiosity long 
awake. About daybreak the body of the Corregidor 
Quesada was found near one of the corners of the cathe- 
dral. He was lying in the midst of a pool of blood, with 
a wound in the side, evidently given with great earnest- 
ness, for the marks of the guard were deeply impressed on 
the edge of the wound, and many of the spectators seemed 
to look with jealousy at the trace of the handiwork of a 
person who was master of his business. No one was 
aware that the corregidor had any personal enemies, but- 
all knew that he had declared himself to be an enemy of 
*he government. For some days the body, in grand 
costume, w^as exposed, as is the custom of the country, to 
public view, and great exertions were made, but in vain, 
to discover the assassin. 

" A short time afterwards, an event not less strange 
occurred at Jalapa. A senator generally considered 
hostile to the government, was poisoned in a manner not 
less strange than Quesada had been stabbed. One day 




Don Lucas Alamrn. 



ALAMAlJr. 267 

immediately after he awoke, this senator took up a cigar 
which lay on the table near his bed, and ringing for his 
valet-de-chambre, bade him bring him a light. The Mexi- 
cans smoke much more scientifically than any other peo- 
ple, and never think of lighting a cigar with a blaze, but 
always from living coals, which are kept in a brazero, 
which, in this instance, was of silver. Scarcely had he 
begun to smoke, when he was seized with a violent 
sneezing, in consequence of which, in a short time, a 
haemorrhage ensued, of which he died. His body was 
examined, and it appeared that the nasal passages and 
brain were violently inflamed, that the cigar must have 
been poisoned and killed him, as described. No one 
could tell what hand had placed the cigars on the sena- 
tor's table, and the appearance of his servant, when he 
told what had happened, would have convinced the 
most sceptical that he was guiltless of this assassination 
of his master. Who, then, was guilty ? People insisted 
on connecting together these two inexplicable murders, 
and fancied that the hand which drove the dagger so 
deep into Quesada's side, was the one which had placed 
the cigars on the senator's table, and belonged to Don 
Lucas Alaman. 

" This may be, and probably is, all calumny, for the 
story of the poisoned cigar is too elaborate, and is evi- 
dently copied from the days of the Borgia and La Brin- 
villiers, but will serve to show the estimate put on the 
morals of Don Lucas Alaman, whom all the world con- 
fessed to be a true patriot, yet who, to secure the good 
of his countr}'-, would not hesitate to trample in the dust, 
the rights of its citizens and of itself, with a courage 
which is the more heroic as it neither receives the re- 
ward of public approbation nor is sustained by the inspi- 
ration of the hope of fame." 



268 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

This paragraph of comment is taken from the same 
writer who records the anecdotes which, true or false, 
are characteristic of what was considered Alaman's 
disposition. 

Alaman has already been said to have governed 
Mexico, in fact, during the presidency of General Guer- 
rero, but at that time had given little evidence of the 
energy he afterwards exhibited. The Mexican people 
had, however, already conceived a presentiment that 
ere long a firm hand would hold in check the evil 
passions which then under the impetus of the absence 
of government, incident to the revolution, had devastated 
their country. The appearance of Alaman certainly 
would not indicate him to be that person. His 
stature is low, his forehead broad, wide, and un- 
wrinkled. His hair is black and silky, his eyes keen 
and piercing, and his complexion certainly would not 
betoken him to belong to the Spanish race, but 
to be a child of some colder climate than Mexico. 
One would think him feeble, irresolute, and indolent. 
In doing so a great error would be committed. He 
is possessed, in fact, of great determination, of a 
moral energy capable of anything, and of ceaseless per- 
severance. His activity of mind prompts him to 
undertake all conceivable schemes, even those which 
would be thought most incompatible with his inclina- 
tions. He is said to speak perfectly well French, 
Italian, and English, and what is yet more rare among 
his countrymen, to speak pure Spanish and to write it 
correctly. 

Alaman is a mere man of the bureau, and therefore 
it is that he has never been able to participate in the 
realization of any of the plans he has dictated. One 
thing is sure, that he ever maintained, that patriotism 



ALAMAN. 269 

justified any excesses, and that whosoever wills the 
attainment of any object, approves cf the necessary 
means to accomplish his wishes. For this reason his 
political opponents have not hesitated to accuse him of 
the two strange assassinations referred to above ; wMe 
his admirers have maintained that, in pure and un- 
shrinking patriotism, devotion to the cause of human 
enlightenment, and farsight into the tendency of the 
future, he has had an equal only in our own Jefferson. 

Don Lucas Alaman must now be fifty-three or four 
years of age. He is a native of Guanajuato, of good 
family, and was educated at the college of La Mineria. 
Those who knew him there, say, that but for the revo- 
lution, he would have been one of the most expert 
administr adores of mines in Mexico. As it was, he 
only became the most skilful of her politicians. He 
entered the army when the war of independence broke 
out, but soon discovered he had no talents for such 
scenes. His enemies say he proved himself on all oc- 
casions to be a most arrant coward. He soon laid aside 
his sword to study the laws of his country, that he 
might participate in political affairs. His political career 
was curious, and an autobiography from him would be 
invaluable as a sketch of men and things in Mexico for 
the last thirty years. A circumstance especially credit- 
able to him is, that he had nothing to do with Iturbide's 
plans, but immediately after his deposition became 
minister of foreign aflfairs, a post he occupied when the 
ex-emperor returned to Soto la Marina, in 1844. The 
manner of Iturbide's death has already been described. 
It is worth while, however, to state, that in Mexico 
political offences have almost always been pardoned, 
except when Alaman has been at the head of affairs, by 
whom they have been severely punished. 
12 



270 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

After he retired from the ministry, he visited Europe, 
and remained there for a long time. This was the most 
promising aspect of the star of Mexico, when the Eng- 
lish vmre beginning their explorations of the mines, and 
when the United Mexican Mining Company originated. 
The early studies of Alaman, and his intimate know- 
ledge of Mexico, procured for him the position of 
director, with magnificent emoluments of office. At the 
same time he became administrador of the Duca di 
Monteleone, a noble of Sicily, who, as the representative 
of Hernando Cortes, the conqueror, is in possession of 
an extensive Mexican territory and of immense wealth. 
While in England he became thoroughly imbued with 
English prejudices, and conceived an aversion to France 
and America, and exhibited, on all occasions when Mex- 
ico was not concerned, the greatest predilection in favor 
of England. To this may be attributed the fact that 
most of the valuable mines of Mexico are in the hands 
of British subjects, and the patents for the great majo- 
rity will be found to date from Alaman's subsequent 
administration. 

It is probable that when he returned to Mexico, 
Alaman purposed to interfere no more in political iif- 
fairs ; for he devoted himself exclusively to the many 
private trusts confided to himself. The administration 
of Guerrero was overthrown in December, 1829, when 
Bustamente insisted on his taking office under him as 
minister of foreign affairs, an honor Alaman sought 
to decline on the plea of his many engagements. He 
however accepted it, and afforded to the world another 
example of the nolo episcopari, which, though common 
to Mexico, is by no means peculiar to it. 

When Le again took charge of the administration of 
the government, Mexico was in a strange position. 



ALAMAN. 271 



But one year previously it had been devastated by civil 
war, and almost become the captive of the bow and. 
spear of the chque that sheltered themselves under the 
cloak of Guerrero's honesty. Pubhc confidence was 
not restored ; and Guerrero himself was still in arms in 
the south. Santa Anna was at Mango de Clavo, biding 
his time. Finances were exhausted, and all classes of 
the army were calling lustily for some years of pay, 
while the treasury was empty. Robbers infested the 
high-roads ; and more than once magisterial offices were 
purchased by ladrones with money obtained by red- 
handed plunder. The custom-house officers were part- 
ners in smuggling adventures ; and, repeatedly, alcal- 
des and magistrates were proved to be partners of 
robber bands. The people were taxed beyond all en- 
durance, while it was notorious that not one-tenth of the 
revenue collected ever reached the puplic coffers. 

Smugghng was carried on on the broadest scale. 
Ships would arrive from France, England, or the United 
States, with the richest and most costly goods, packed 
in cases side by side with coarse cottons or other articles 
of Httle value, each of which was numbered in the ma- 
nifest, 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. The manifests would be sent at 
once to the custom-house, and a single tide-waiter be 
placed on board. At night a launch was put off from 
one of the remote quays of Vera Cruz unobserved, 
whether the night were bright and starlit or the reverse, 
from the fact that no one passes through the streets of 
a Mexican city after the posting of the watch. The 
cases were opened, — each one was found to contain two 
smaller ones : the one filled with costly silks and duti- 
able articles, the other with articles which were free. 
Morning came ; the valuable articles were on shore, and 
the tide-waiter watched over the remains of the cargo. 



272 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

A half dozen ounces to him, and a rich present to the 
'Commandante of Vera Cruz, made all right, and hushed 
any suspicions as to why a large ship should be sent 
across the Atlantic with a few hundred dollars worth 
of goods. 

Such a state of things obviously rendered it impossi- 
ble for the government to meet its obligations, and its 
soldiers necessarily became associates of highway rob- 
bers. In this year, 1828, a German gentleman on his 
way to the South Sea for the purpose of pursuing some 
botanical inquiries, was attacked by the dr agones of his 
escort, and only escaped from the fact that his pistols 
being new, were water-tight, and did not fail, while the 
dilapidated fire-arms of the Mexicans could not be dis- 
charged, in a slight rain which chanced to be falling. 
Every road leading to and from the capital was infested 
by robbers, who were strong enough to set almost any 
safeguard at defiance. 

" Such bands," says a writer who seems to under- 
stand Alaman thoroughly, «« may almost every day 
be met with in the arid plains of Tepeyahualco, so 
aptly named mal pais, in the fearful gorges of Pinal, 
or the icy woods of the Rio Frio, They are all 
admirably mounted, and seem the best horsemen in the 
world. With their faces shaded by their large hats and 
covered with handkerchiefs which permit nothing to be 
seen but their sparkling eyes, they hold in one hand the 
deadly lazoy while with the other they restrain their fiery 
steeds, husbanding their energies until the time shall 
come when they must either leap a precipice to escape, 
or dash forward at speed to strike their prey. The 
lonely traveller, who has no baggage but his poncho and 
lance, may pass quietly among them, exchanging the 
auiicable buenas dias^ as if he were under the protection 



ALAMAN. 273 

of a fortress wall, unless he should look so closely at 
them as to indicate any recognition." He is safe, for 
they are on the alert for a richer prey, and have not 
come out to rob a beggar of his cloak. When they find 
their prey, if resistance is made, they become pitiless 
murderers. If not, they suffer the traveller who surren- 
ders to pass on with the courteous adios caballero, or 
Dios guarda vmd. (Good day, sir; God watch over 
your worship) ; and return to their ranchos to play with 
their children, and it may be to give the alcalde a por- 
tion of their plunder. 

Such people are not to be judged by the rules of 
every-day life, having been corrupted by a bad govern- 
ment, which defiles all things, and superinduces a for- 
getfulness as well of the laws of man as of God ; and a 
German traveller, referred to above, who is familiar 
with the people, states, that the only wonder to him is, 
that they have not long ago dissolved all the bonds of 
society, and become mere savages ; and attributes their 
existence as a nation to the influence of the younger 
clergy, who, grown up since the revolution, see that 
the high position of the church can only be enjoyed 
while the body politic is at least entire. 

Alaman was the very person to put down such dis- 
orders ; and when he found the power to do so in his 
possession, he would not pause for the many obstacles 
which w^ould have terrified a man of less moral courage. 
When once enlisted in such a cause, he was not a man 
to draw back. 

Alaman, when he assumed the direction of foreign 
affairs, resolved to make financial and political reform 
march j^ari passu, and to make the second contribute to 
the first. The most obvious means to be adopted was 
the employment of honest men, with ample salaries 
18 



274 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

Such was the apparent corruption of the community, 
that it was by no means easy to find such in sufficient 
number, and he had to hmit his endeavors in a great 
degree to repressing the peculation of such as he was 
forced to keep. By this means smuggling was pre- 
vented, the treasury became replenished by a stream of 
wealth which previously had been exhausted by tide- 
waiters and collectors, and the soldiers, well paid and 
equipped, were really what they were intended to be, 
the defenders of the nation. The disbursements did not 
exceed the receipts, and the treasury, under the able 
Mangino, was able to meet all demands on it. For 
the first time since the revolution, Mexico had a 
government. 

The highway robbers shared the fate of the pecu- 
lators in public office, many having been taken by 
patrols of cavalry, and either summarily shot, or garro^ 
teado, to encourage the others, who proceeded to hang 
up their bruised armor and seek subsistence by honest 
industry. The red crosses which marked the place 
where murders had been committed, one after the other 
decayed, and no newer ones replaced them, so that the 
roads around Mexico were as safe as in any other part 
of the world. Alaman said that he would not stop in 
this career until he could lay his serape on the plaza 
in Mexico, and on his return in the morning find i1 
untouched ; and but for interruptions in his course 
he could not foresee, he w^ould have accomplished it. 

There yet remained to be chastised the disturbers of 
public peace, and for them the punishment was death. 

Unfortunately, however, for the prosperity of Mexico, 
a civihan had to deal with men of the sword, and 
though he had the sinews of war at his command, the 



ALAMAN. 275 

polished steel often more than balanced gold and the 
interests of Mexico. Santa Anna was probably in his 
eye constantly, but that general was as wily as Alaman, 
and preferred that he should waste himself in efforts 
against other eminent men, and thus prepare an open field 
for him, than to measure himself against an adversary 
dangerous as he was. The man who had murdered a 
senator, would no doubt strike at a general, and therefore 
with his political prudence Santa Anna remained at 
Mango de Clavo in perfect quiet, aware that the long arm 
of Alaman would reach him even amid his Jarochos. 
Guerrero was still in arms in the south, surrounded by 
his faithful Pintos, and defied all efforts against him and 
his authority, which after all was constitutional. Fever 
and the cKmate protected the latter against any army 
which could be marched against him, and recourse was 
had to treason to obtain possession of him. 

An Italian named Picaluga, a native of Genoa, at 
that time was in the port of Acapulco, the head-quarters 
of the general. This man, with the tact peculiar to his 
countrymen, contrived to insinuate himself in the confi- 
dence of Guerrero, who was frank and soldierlike in his 
bearing. One day Guerrero, who detested the y*a5^e and 
parade of which most Mexicans seem so fond, went with- 
out any suite to breakfast with Picaluga, who received him 
with the greatest apparent cordiality. . The general was 
a little fond of good wine, and after a hearty meal went 
on deck and discovered that the black-hearted villain had 
weighed his anchor and was then entering a neighboring 
port, which was in the possession of the enemy. He 
was at once overpowered and surrendered to the officers 
of the government. 

A form of trial was soon gone through with, and on 
the 14th of February, 1831, near the city of Oaxaca, the 



276 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

general was shot. It is said that at the place of execu- 
tion he wept bitterly. He had in defence of his coun- 
try fought so bravely, that on such an occasion he might 
give vent to his feelings, and weep at her ingratitude. 
Public opinion attributes this act to Alaman exclusively, 
and he is also suspected of having, by means of others, 
induced the gallant Iturbide to return to Mexico to meet 
a similar fate. Picaluga, it is said, received for this foul 
treason $50,000, and the order for that sum is now pre- 
served in the treasury — an authentic autograph of Alaman. 
The vessel of Picaluga, commanded by another, returned 
to Genoa, when the story was told, and such was the 
universal disgust at it, that his name was blotted from 
the roll of Genoese citizens, and became in Spanish a 
term to express one dyed in the deepest villany. Pica- 
luga afterwards, it is said, apostatized from Christianity, 
and in 1840 was in the service of a Mahometan prince. 
Two other chieftains were subsequently taken in other 
parts of the country and mercilessly shot, in spite of the 
influence of their friends ; the brother of one of them, 
Codallos, was governor of Mexico, and the other, Vic- 
toria, was the only brother of Guadalupe Victoria, first 
president of Mexico. This much good and evil was 
effected by Alaman during 1830 and 1831. 

Then commenced for Mexico a new era, that of 
manufacturing industry, its resources having been previ- 
ously merely agricultural and pastoral. Alaman wished 
to place the people he governed on a level with those 
of Europe, and this was his great motive in the estab- 
lishment of peace. Nature has conferred on Mexico 
three different climates, the tropical, temperate, and cold, 
(comparatively speaking.) It has also given to these 
three latitudes inexhaustible fertility, a cloudless sky, 
and mountain ridges from the summits of which the 



ALAMAN, 277 

rains bring down sands of gold, where silver is found 
everywhere, and, as if to force it to rely on its own indus- 
try, has refused to it only navigable rivers and good ports. 
Its topographical peculiarities are such, that it must ever 
be almost impossible to contrive any system of railroads 
through it; in a word, Mexico is deprived of that facility 
of communication with which nature recompenses less 
favored regions for the curse of sterility. The question 
of industry is then more vital to it than to any other in 
the world, since it cannot transport its raw material to 
the shore of either sea. 

At the instance of Alaman, who was the president 
of the council, as an encouragement to industrial under- 
takings, a large portion of the customs collected was 
appropriated, under the name of banco de avio, bank of 
succor, to be loaned to persons employed in manufac- 
turing enterprises of certain kinds: as, cotton, iron, 
silk, wool, and paper. Another portion was expended 
in machinery purchased in Europe, and loaned gratis to 
manufacturers. This was an admirable scheme, w^orthy 
of imitation in other countries boasting of a more 
extended civilization; and the consequence was, that 
industry received a new impulse, there seemed less desire 
for revolution, and the roads and pubhc buildings began 
to exhibit strong evidence of the fostering care of a 
government. Amid all this prosperity, however, one 
man contrived to disturb this promise, at the very time 
that measures were being taken to call him to account 
for his past misconduct. Santa Anna had remained 
quiet as long as Alaman would not interfere personally 
with him ; but having learned from some of the numerous 
agents his private fortune enabled him always to main- 
tain that he would soon be arraigned, he pronounced 
against Bustamente and destroyed the influence of 



278 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

Alaman, which certainly was working wonders for 
Mexico in one point of view, while it is equally sure 
that he was not to be considered a model either of 
honor, honesty, or obedience to the behests of religion. 

On this occasion Santa Anna acted with his peculiar 
decision and promptness. He called around him his 
Jarochos, induced the garrison of Vera Cruz to revolt, 
and seized on the sum of five hundred thousand dollars, 
which had been collected by Alaman, and which served 
to ruin him. It was in vain, during this contest, that 
Alaman gave his generals the most exact orders, money, 
and disciplined troops ; they were unable to realize the 
plans he had conceived in his bureau. The secretary at 
war took the command of the army, but had no better 
success ; and Alaman being unable to place himself at 
the head of troops to repair their errors, Bustamente 
capitulated. The man who had caused Iturbide, Guer- 
rero, Codallos, and Victoria to be shot, had reason to 
fear a similar fate for himself, for a similar offence, the 
failure of his plans ; and disappeared not only from the 
political but the social world, and none knew where he 
sheltered himself. 

Fifteen months afterwards, during the presidency of 
Santa Anna, who was aware of all the details of Ala- 
man's plans against him, the ex-minister made his ap- 
pearance in the capital as mysteriously as he had left it. 
All that ever transpired was, that becoming frightened 
about his safety, whether with reason or not, Santa 
Anna best knew, Alaman had sheltered himself amid 
the inviolable seclusion of a convent. In this retreat he 
learned to restrain his political enmities and ambition, 
and his secret was so well kept, that even now, when 
all motive for it is lost, the seal of secrecy has never 
been broken as to what altar concealed him. He was 



A.LAMAN. 279 

completely isolated from public affairs until 1837, when, 
on the return of Bustamente to power, he began gra- 
dually to exert his power and influence again. At the 
election, which resulted in favor of Bustamente, Alaman 
obtained the next largest number of votes, and so high 
w^as his reputation for capacity, that Bustamente forgot 
all feeling of jealousy, and confided to him almost all 
the functions of government. 

The central constitution, called the plan of Tagle 
from the name of the person by whom it was proposed, 
had created a third power of the government, called 
•consejo del gobierno, or council of government, and 
had assigned singular powers to it. This body was 
empowered to review all laws passed by the chambers, 
to originate decrees itself, and its consent was ne- 
cessary before any act could be submitted to the pre- 
sident ; it was an institution like the English star-chamber, 
and the Venitian council of ten, which deliberated in 
secret, and changed a democracy into an oligarchy. 
The presidency of this body was offered to Alaman, 
who, however, objected to the conspicuous nature of 
the appointment though he had no objection to the 
power. The post was therefore conferred on General 
Moran, an invalid in whose frequent absence, and by 
the influence he had over him, Alaman was the presi- 
dent de facto. Alaman contrasted in his mind his 
present position, in which he was totally irresponsible 
and sheltered by the secret discussions, with the state of 
affairs when he was a minister — he could but congratu- 
late himself on the change which permitted him to do 
so much for his country with such safety to himself 

This state of things did not last long, for in 1840 
Alaman was again living in a private station, having 



280 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

been driven from power by the dissolution of the plan 
of Tagle on the deposition of Bustamente. 

When Santa Anna a second time regained supreme 
authority, the great men of the country fled from it ; 
Farias came to the United States, and Bustamente 
sought to forget his adversity in Genoa and Rome. 
Alaman, aware that he was now for a long time destined 
to be excluded from public affairs, resolved to realize 
for his own advantage some of the benefits he sought 
to confer on his countrymen by the banco de avio. He 
therefore established a vast cotton manufactory at Ori- 
zaba, in the state of Vera Cruz. The scheme, however, 
was scarcely promising ; the competition of England and 
the United States being sure to repress such enterprises 
in Mexico, where labor is difficult to be had, and cotton 
by no means plenty — where broken machinery must 
either be repaired by foreign artisans, or sent from the 
country — and last of all, where any day may witness 
the transformation of the peaceful warehouse into a 
barrack. Smuggling enterprises also could be under- 
taken under the administration of Santa Anna, encour- 
aged by countless harbors unwatched, the absence of 
any marine force, and the vicinity of New Orleans with 
its boundless supplies ; so that it has become almost to be 
confessed, in spite of the success of a few factories at 
Jalapa, that no similar enterprise can prosper near the 
coast of the Gulf of Mexico. 

The administration of Santa Anna was spendthrift as 
that of Alaman had been careful ; and consequently the 
manufacturers everywhere became involved, and Ala- 
man was forced to suspend payment. It is said that 
he failed for the sum of $1,200,000, an event which 
created consternation throughout Mexico. His painful 
situatipn he bore with sangfroid; and it was natural 



HERRERA. 281 

that a man who had ordered the execution of an em- 
peror, a president, and countless generals, should not 
shrink from having caused the ruin of a few hundred 
operatives. 

Alaman then Avas merely the administrador of the 
Duke of Monteleone, and though Santa Anna was aware 
if he had fallen into his hands in the days of his power, 
he would have been shot summarily, he rather protected 
him ; and not unfrequently, it is said, consulted him in 
his fiscal difficulties when he first succeeded to power. 
In 1842 he became again minister of foreign affairs ; 
and, strangely enough, men who but a few years before 
would have shot each other without compunction, used 
to embrace most cordially when they met. Alaman was 
not, however, so attached to Santa Anna, as to be un- 
able to console himself for his exile ; and, since the latter's 
return, has again occupied a prominent position. There 
is, it is said, however, but little doubt that Alaman on 
the first opportunity would shoot the dictator with as 
little compunction now^ as he would have done during 
the administration of Bustamente, when Guerrero, Co- 
dallos and Victoria fell. 

Don Lucas Alaman was a member of the general 
cortes of the Spanish empire in 1820 ; and has never 
been in favor of the restoration of the Spanish system. 
He has, however, always been opposed to democratic 
tendencies ; and has been one of the bitterest enemies 
of the United States in Mexico. 

The plan proposed in the preparation of this book 
has its advantages, but in many respects is not so con- 
venient as might be wished. Its greatest disadvantage 
consists in the fact that in the sketch of the more impor- 
tant individuals, reference to others is made so frequently, 
that when we touch on their lives the material is ex- 



282 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

hausled, and it becomes necessary to repeat or to give 
but a meagre account of men who have occupied a large 
space of public attention. This is especially the case 
with General Herrera. In the sketches of General Pare- 
des and of Santa Anna, the details of the revolution have 
been given, which broke out in Queretaro, headed by 
the former, the consequence of which was the destruc- 
tion of Santa Anna's prospects, and the reduction of one 
who had boasted that he was the Napoleon of the west, 
to the humble state of a suitor for life and safety to a 
congress he had trampled on and contemned. The 
government of Herrera was, no doubt, correct, and 
seemed calculated to advance the great interests of the 
country. There is little doubt that he foresaw the con- 
sequences which were likely to result to Mexico from a 
war with the United States, and sought by conciliatory 
means to avert it. It was, however, in vain, for the 
whole army under Paredes pronounced against him, and 
he was deposed in November, 1845. 

The strongest evidence of the purity of Herrera's con- 
duct in this case, is the fact that the pronunciamento 
against him was purely military, and a conspicuous part 
was played in effecting it by Arista. The consequence 
of this revolution was the installation of Paredes as pre- 
sident, and the certainty that Santa Anna only could 
restore quiet. No sooner w^as Paredes installed than 
reports arose of a counter-revolution by Arista, likely 
enough when we take into consideration the events which 
have subsequently occurred, and the evident coquetting 
of Santa Anna and Almonte. 

Paredes' power was but short lived ; Santa Anna re- 
turned, and Herrera was excluded from military com- 
mand until the last struggle of the president at Cerro 



HERRERA. 283 

Gordo, when, with La Vega, and the best men of the 
Mexican army, he was taken prisoner in the entrench- 
ments from which Santa Anna fled. He was there 
paroled by General Scott, and returned to the capital. 
His military career is therefore over, but it is not unlikely 
he may yet be called to serve Mexico in some civil capa- 
city. The avowed reason of his deposition, after the 
exile of Santa Anna, was, that he was suspected of wish- 
ing to receive the American minister and consenting* to 
the final rehnquishment of Texas. Should he be installed, 
we may expect the same course to be advocated by him. 
General Thompson speaks of Herrera as a man con- 
fessedly of high character, but in no other respect 
remarkable. Madame la Barca says as much. Can 
there be higher praise in Mexico, where some strength 
of mind is required to withstand the temptations to cor- 
ruption ? 

There are other eminent men in Mexico, of a reputa- 
tion scarcely less than those who have been the subjects 
of this book, and the names of whom have frequently 
occurred. A minute sketch of General Bravo and of Va- 
lencia would no doubt throw much light on the military 
history of Mexico, while a life of Rejon would unfold 
much of the tortuous policy which has been so peculiar 
to that country. At some other day a history of the 
events that produced the present war may be written, 
which the author believes will expose a waste of the bless- 
ings of nature in a manner unprecedented in the annals 
of any era, or any degree of barbarism. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The City and Valley of Mexico— The Church. 

If we may believe the accounts of the old chroni- 
cler Bernal Diaz, who, like Sir John Mandeville, wrote 
what he had seen, Mexico at the time of the conquest 
by Cortes was a western Venice. It had its palaces 
and gardens, its temples and market-places, filled with 
a population of three hundred thousand souls. As 
Chevalier aptly says, population is an index of a certain 
stage of civilization ; but it must be remembered, that 
the age when Bernal Diaz wrote was that when all the 
world believed the stories of the Great Cham, and 
when the King of the Cannibal Isles was devoutly be- 
lieved to exist. Popular tradition told of the existence 
of an island where demons hovered above every hill, 
and pictured the prototype of Shakspeare's Caliban and 
Prospero as stern realities. While Cortes and Pizarro 
were waging war in Mexico and Peru, Gonsalvo of 
Cordova, in Italy, was winning laurels at the head of 
his troops, by the side of which nothing but exagge- 
ration could place the conquests in America. 

The book of Bernal Diaz tells of vast temples, of 
costly edifices, and of all the comforts of private life ; 
yet, strange to say, not one reUc of those times has 
reached us. The halls of Montezuma have left no 
more trace than the palace of Aladdin, and of all the 
buildings of hewn stone that Diaz and his contemporaries 
and immediate successors speak of, not one remnant 



o 

o 
n 




CITY AND VALLEY OF MEXICO. 285 

exists. Yet all these stories tell us of no ruin of 
Mexico, but would induce the belief that the people 
merely changed their ruler ; that the Aztecs obeyed a 
♦^iceroy of Charles V., instead of Montezuma. 

It is not, however, to be denied, that there are vast 
ruins in Mexico — pyramids and temples that speak of 
a highly cultivated race, certainly acquainted with the 
arts of civilization. These ruins yet remain, and the 
traveller, when he gazes on them, is satisfied he looks 
on the wreck of a cultivated race, whose antiquity is 
more venerable than that of the Pharaohs or Brah- 
minical rulers. It no more follows, however, that the 
Mexican or Aztec races were the authors of these, 
because Europeans found them beneath their shadows, 
than that the colossal remains of Egypt, or the beau- 
tiful columns of Tadmor and Palmyra, are to be 
attributed to the Ishmaelite or Turk who rules the 
country where they are. Near the Rock River in 
Michigan, and Chilicothe in Ohio, are vast ruins, which 
no one will attribute to the Shawnee and Wyandotte 
races, but w^hich bear all the internal evidences of a culti- 
vation quite equal to that of the Aztec and Tlascalan. 
The probability is, that the continent had been ruled by 
a more powerful race, possessed of a civilization of its 
own, with which the Mexicans had no more to do than 
the Iroquois or Sioux. 

It is, however, ascertained, that at the time of the 
conquest, Mexico was surrounded by the waters of the 
lake ; for Cortes, before he could subdue it, was com- 
pelled to build brigantines of burden sufficient to sup- 
port the shocks of heavy ordnance. The Aztecs fought 
long and well, but without a knowledge of the use of 
iron they gave way before the chivalry of Cortes. The 
trenchant steel of Toledo shivered the weapons of vol- 



286 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

canic glass of Montezuma's and Guatimozin's array, 
and the conquest soon became a slaughter. Positive 
proof of this is afforded by the fact that battles oc- 
curred in which the Spaniards fought from sunrise to 
sunset, and not one man was killed in their ranks, while 
hecatombs of Indians fell. Let it not be understood, 
that any effort is made to detract from the credit of the 
conquistator, whose achievements recall to us the Bible 
history of the slaughter of the hosts of Phihstines with 
the jaw-bone of an ass. 

The tier r as calientes and templadas of Mexico are 
both a succession of platforms or steps . which termi- 
nate in the lofty mountain of Popocatapetl. On the 
descent from the brow of a mountain about twenty-five 
miles east of Mexico, a view of the countless towers 
and domes of the city are first discovered. Far in the 
distance is seen the snow of Popocatapetl reflecting the 
brilliancy of a vertical sun. More remote is seen the 
brow of Iztaccihuatl. The valley is now a barren 
waste ; for the canals which, rude as they were under 
the last Indian princes and the first viceroys, sufficed to 
irrigate the land, are now choked up ; and the lakes 
themselves are rapidly disappearing. Hundreds of vil- 
lages, which they tell us were once cities, are seen 
around the capital. The road descends the western de- 
clivity into the valley of the lake about sixteen miles 
from Mexico, passing over a narrow neck of land, on 
one side of which are the salt waters of Tezcuco, and 
on the left the fresh w^ater of Chalco. 

The cities from each of which they took their names 
nave now disappeared, and even the acute Mr. Oldbuck 
would find difficulty in identifying one stone, of their 
walls. At a high pinal, or cliffy six miles from the city, 
the traveller first meets the causeway, and sees around 



CITY AND VALLEY OF MEXICO. 287 

him a new sandy soil, partially covered with water from 
the lakes of Tezcuco, Chalco, Hochimilco, Zumpango, 
and San Christoval, pointing out the area of that inland 
sea from which Mexico arose. Forty years ago, when 
Humboldt wrote, the waters were supposed to cover 
one-tenth of the valley, which now in the rainy season 
is one vast marsh. When in the arid months of sum- 
mer the waters subside, the surface of this rnarsh is 
covered with coarse salt, generally used in all the sur- 
rounding country. 

The city of Mexico is in the north-western part of 
this valley, about three miles from the village of Guada- 
lupe, of which more anon. The valley itself is a vast 
oval basin, surrounded by mountains and cliffs of vari- 
ous heights, from those of but a hundred feet in height, 
to Popocatapetl, with its ever burning fires and eternal 
snows, lifted more than ten thousand feet above the 
loftiest domes of the city. On the road from Vera Cruz 
are a few low hills of volcanic origin, but everywhere 
else the valley is one vast plain. It is a usual thing to 
attribute to the disappearance of the lake the sterility of 
the country, and to the choking of the canals, which were 
but amphfications of the natural water- courses. But 
need we look further than the still-burning summits of 
Iztaccihuatl and Popocatapetl, the countless extin- 
guished craters, for a reason why the waters have parti- 
ally disappeared? The Mexican nation is sufficiently 
impotent, and feeble enough, and inflicts evil enough on 
the beautiful country it occupies, without our attributing 
to it things dictated by a higher providence and more 
august wisdom than mortality can comprehend. The 
soil is now unculti.vated, yet yields a copious return for 
the sweat expended on it. Wheat, corn, and vegeta- 
bles are produced in great abundance, and the agave 



288 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

Mexicana, that plant which, like the cocoa-nut in the 
South Sea, is bread, apparel and drink, are produced in 
great plenty, while countless herds roam over the ex- 
panse unchecked, as are their fellows in the newest 
country of this continent, the prairie of New Mexico, or 
in the venerable campagna di Roma^ the classic land of 
Europe. The city of Mexico, however, does not 
receive its supplies from this plain, which is so peculi- 
arly endowed that every product of every land would 
grow there in rich abundance. Vegetables of all kinds 
are brought either on the backs of Indians, or in panniers 
on asses, from beyond the valley ; wagons being used 
exclusively by the mining companies. On asses, too, 
are borne to the city the freights disgorged by the many 
vessels at Vera Cruz. French clocks, jewelry, velvets, 
hats, and European wines, all are thus transported to 
the capital, and thence diffused over the w^hole republic 
in a similar manner. At Monclova and in the secluded 
towns of Sinaloa, clocks are seen with alabaster columns 
transported in this manner; and Brequet returns his 
lepine watches on the backs of mules, not unfrequently 
to the employees of the very mines whence the gold of 
which they were made was taken. 

The entrance from the north and west into the city 
of Mexico, does not greatly differ from the route to Vera 
Cruz, except that the roads are worse and more lonely, 
and the posadas or inns fewer and worse in quality. 
Here and there are strewn miserable Indian hamlets, 
with wretched half-starved inmates, who it is impossi- 
ble to believe are the descendants of the polished races 
whom Cortes and Bernal Diaz have described. It is 
possible they are not ; for north, in the mountains of Santa 
Fe, are a race, who boast that when all was lost, they 
emigrated northward as their fathers had come south, 



CITY AND VALLEY OF MEXICO. 289 

and amid the inaccessible hills found safety. In the 
dark caves of these hills they still keep up a belief in 
the milder divinities of Aztec mythology, humanized, 
but similar to that which Montezuma entertained. 

Mexico is, beyond a doubt, the most magnificent, city 
on the American continent, and contains more rich and 
beautiful buildings than any other. As has already been 
said, it contains not one remnant of the old race who 
began the city, but is instinct with the taste which pro- 
moted the erection of the monuments of the cities of the 
peninsula, the majority of which were built when the arts, 
revived by the Medici, were extending themselves over 
the world. The houses in the principal streets are built 
in the purest taste, and many of the most splendid are 
even now owned by the descendant of Cortes, the Duke 
of Monteleone. The plaza grande is a vast area, paved 
with stone, with the cathedral on one side and on the 
opposite a row of fine houses, with projecting balconies. 
On one of the other side is the palacio nacional, the old 
vice-regal dwelling, built on the site of the far-famed 
halls of the Montezumas. This building is utterly taste- 
less, a vast mass of stone and mortar, with small win- 
dows, and badly arranged. The president occupies but 
a small portion of this building, in which are the halls 
of the senate and deputies, and the bureaus of the various 
ministers. At the end of a dark passage is a massive 
door opening into a court called the botanical garden, 
in which are a few stinted trees, among which, however, 
is the strange manita tree, but one other of which species 
is known to exist, and which is curious from bearing 
a blossom resembling the human hand. Mr. Thomp- 
son, Madame Calderon, Gilliam, the French and Ger- 
man travellers, all unite in one account, which all who 
have seen it will endorse, that it looks more like a ruin- 
19 



290 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

ous barrack or deserted factory than the home of the 
chief magistrate of one of the great divisions of the world. 
The cathedral has no equal in North America, and is built 
in the florid Gothic style which the Spaniards have always 
been so fond of It too is historical, and stands on the 
site of the temple of one of the Mexican blood-stained 
divinities, Almitzotli. The walls are of solid stone. 

The wealth of our own country is inadequate to 
give any idea of the splendor of its interior, filled with 
paintings and statues. On entering the building the 
eye is attracted to the high altar of solid silver, its mas- 
sive candelabra of gold, and a balustrade extending on 
each side of it, cast from a metal of the color of gold, 
the component parts of which are copper, silver, and 
brass, in such proportions that it is worth far more than 
its weight in silver. The separate pieces of which it is 
formed are four feet high, and several inches thick; and 
its whole length is three hundred feet. Several years ago 
a silver smith of Mexico offered to replace it with a railing 
of the same form and weight in solid silver, and to pay 
into the fund of the cathedral $500,000 besides. 

On every side are smaller chapels richly decorated, 
where all the utensils are silver, besides vast store-rooms 
filled with plate, rarely or never produced, but there in 
its sterling value. 

This seems exaggeration, and recalls to our minds 
things we have dreamed of in childhood, but never real- 
ized as existing ; and whether Cortes deceived the em- 
peror Charles V. in his account of Montezuma's wealth, 
matters not, for the viceroys realized all his promises. 

Here also is the calendar of Montezuma, a round 
stone inserted in the wall, covered with hieroglyphics of 
that mysterious kind, so far even more impenetrable 
than the mystic writing of the obelisks of Egypt. On 



CITY AND VALLEY OF MEXICO. 291 

the great plaza there wa£, in 1844, a column being 
erected surmounted by a figure of Liberty, in commemo 
ration of Mexican independence. 

The square of the cathedral is not the only beauti- 
ful public place in Mexico. The Alameda, in all the 
elements of physical beauty, will compare with any 
public walk in Europe, not excepting the parks of Lon- 
don and the Prado of Vienna. The beautiful paseo of 
Havana cannot compare with this luxurious spot, redo- 
lent with the shrubs and flowers of which nature has 
been so prodigal in Mexico. Leading to the Alameda, 
is the noble street of St. Francis, with its rich edifices, 
not the least interesting of which is the palace of Itur- 
bide, both on account of the richness of its architecture 
and the associations connected with it. There are other 
interesting buildings in Mexico, the most prominent of 
which are the convents of La Profesa, of St. Augustin, 
and San Francisco, of vast wealth and great influence, 
the colleges of Biscay and La Mineria, and hosts of 
others. 

In the university is much that is attractive, not the 
least of which is the equestrian statue of Charles IV. by 
Tolsa, a native artist, who h<:.G left behind him works in 
bronze, worthy of the artists of the best days of Italy. It 
also contains the sacrificial stone, from the great Teocalli 
of the Aztec days. The palaces of Cortina, of Regla, of 
Count Beneski, the friend of Iturbide, and multitudes of 
other splendid residences, will compare with the private 
dwellings of most cities, but unfortunately in close proxi- 
mity are the hovels of the miserable leperos, so wretched, 
that at the contrast we can but exclaim, «' Can these be thy 
children, oh Mexico, and the fellow-citizens of those?" 

The first singularity which attracts attention in Mex- 
ico, however, is the character of the people in the street ; 



292 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

priests and friars in their strange garbs, canonigos in 
their immense hats, military men in brilliant uniforms, 
and Indians and leperos in the costume chance offers 
them. Naples with its lazzaroni, Calcutta with its 
hordes of pariahs, St. Giles in London with all its 
abominations, are decent in comparison with the place 
of assemblage of these wretches — the lame, halt, and 
the cripple, the maimed soldier and disabled robber, the 
victim of leprosy. Words cannot express the horror 
of the scenes to be met with in the streets, and which 
strike with equal disgust the soldier who has served on 
the battle-fields of Europe, and the scientific naturalist, 
who wonders how a land so blessed by nature can be 
suffered by God to be so deformed wdth crime. 
Madame Calderon records having met with beggars 
everywhere — in her private house, in the Alameda, 
in the very temple. Everywhere, and amid wealth 
beside which that of the Califs becomes insignificant, 
is heard the cry, Caridad por el nomhre de Jesus; una 
niediapor los santos. If these be the consequences of all 
the gold and silver of Mexico, if its wealth be not able to 
prevent them, far better were it if the land, doomed to 
absolute sterility, should force its children to starve or 
live by the sweat of their brows. 

The strongest argument to justify the occupation of 
America by the Europeans, has ever been, that God 
never intended so fair a land to be occupied by howling 
savages; and if this be true, what inference may w^e 
draw from the present condition of Mexico ? 

In any account of Mexico, however, in which the 
church was omitted, an inexcusable oversight w^ould be 
made. It is an important element of the Mexican social 
system, and many go so far as to say that it is the 
government. When Cortes conquered Mexico, he was 



THE cHuiiCH. 293 

under the influence of the spirit of loyalty and military 
obedience not more than of the fervor of the crusader 
He devoutly believed that he was conquering a king- 
dom for his earthly master, beside which the crowns 
of Castile and Aragon become insignificant, and for his 
God the souls of generations, otherwise doomed, ac- 
cording to the harsh theology of the age, to intermi- 
nable perdition. Everywhere we see the traces of this 
spirit, from the day when he threw down the idols 
from their pedestals, to the great conflagration of 
Mexican and Tezcucan manuscripts by the Spanish 
Arab, Juan de Zummoraga, first archbishop of Mexico, 
in the great market-place. The consequence was, that 
vast sums were appropriated to the priesthood, and 
more than an ecclesiastical tithe of the fruits of the 
conquest was appropriated to the honor of religion. 
The course of the early missionaries was strange : we 
read of baptisms which recall to us the conversions of 
apostolic days ; of thousands made, in the words of the 
old chroniclers, " children of Christ from priests of the 
devil." The vast wealth of the Aztec priests was 
appropriated to their successors, and the endowments 
of the richest days of the old church, " when pontiffs 
placed their sandalled feet on the necks of mailed 
kings," were exceeded by this its youngest conquest. 

The riches thus acquired by the church have per- 
petually been increased by endowments and bequests. 
Scarcely a will is made in Mexico, that does not con- 
tain a clause in favor of some shrine or ecclesiastical 
corporation ; and the plate in its convents, like that of 
the mess of a European regiment, is of so many pat- 
terns and such various forms, that it would seem to 
have been gathered from the sacking of a hundred 
cities. 

13 



294 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

There is ?. selfishness about the Mexican church 
which is strange indeed, and finds a parallel nowhere 
else. In England, when Richard I. was taken prisoner 
by the archduke of Austria, the abbeys and convents 
brought their plate to ransom their monarch ; in the wars 
of the league, the mitred princes and bishops contri- 
buted to support their army, and during the invasion of 
the Peninsula by the orders of Napoleon, the ecclesias- 
tics were foremost in their contributions. This, how- 
ever, has never been the case in Mexico. In all the 
wars which have occurred the church has not contri- 
buted one media, and now, while the stranger is a mas- 
ter in her cities, and an enemy's foot presses the senti- 
nel's walk on her ramparts, the church and its dignitaries 
yet refuse to pay one farthing to defend their altars and 
their flocks. No president except Gomez Farias has 
ever dared to advocate the confiscation of one cent of 
the ecclesiastical property, and on three occasions that 
he has sought to effect such a reform, he has been driven 
from power. Mr. Thompson says that a small sum has 
been realized by the sale of the property of the Jesuits, 
but it must be remembered the church itself first est 
them from its bosom. The general impression (and those 
who have had an opportunity of judging, say it by no 
means exaggerates the fact) is that one-third of the real 
property of Mexico is in the hands of the church, not 
counting a vast amount of money invested in mortgages 
on the remainder. 

No college of theologians in the world would call the 
Mexican church orthodox. The ceremonies are certainly 
those of the Roman Catholic church, but even in the 
minds of the priesthood are engrafted such a host of 
Aztec superstitions, that it may even now be doubted if 
the mass of the people merit the name of Christian more 



THE CHUKCH. 295 

than do the Abyssinian s, or the few worshippers found by 
the Portuguese in the fourteenth century in the neighbor- 
hood of Goa, in India. Worshipping at the shrines of 
the saints, a vast portion of the Indian population beheve 
impHcitly that some day Montezuma will return to rule 
his people and restore the glory of his realm. Even 
now, on the pyramid of Cholula is a chapel dedicated to 
the Virgin, attended by a lowly and sincere Indian monk, 
who, as he points out to the traveller the traces of the 
ruins around him, gives satisfactory evidence that he is 
not without faith in the gods of the ancient Teocalli, 
which his altar has replaced. 

From all America it is believed that the Catholic 
church has admitted into her calendar but three saints. 
St, Tammany, from Canada ; St. Rosa, from Lima, in 
Peru ; and one other from Mexico, the name of whom es- 
capes us, and scarcely one of the many miracles said to 
have occurred, have stood the test to which the autho- 
rities of Rome have subjected them. This circumstance 
does not, however, prevent the every-day occurrence of 
a new beatification and the admission into the faith of 
Mexico of countless new candidates for veneration, 
from many of whom the church derives a great portion 
of its Avealth. The two most striking instances of this 
fact are the following. 

On the 8th of December, 1531, a poor and humble 
Indian, whose name was Juan Diego, sate on a rock, 
on the summit of Tepeya. Having sunk to sleep, he 
saw in a vision the Blessed Virgin, who bade him go to 
Mexico and command the archbishop to build a chapel 
where she then stood. The Indian went immediately 
to the city ; but being refused admission into the archi- 
episcopal palace, returned the next day to the lonely 
rock, where the Mother of God again appeared to him. 



296 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

She bade him immediately return and insist on the at- 
tention of the bishop. Diego did so, but was not 
more successful ; and when he returned asked from the 
Virgin some token that what he said was true. At the 
command of the holy Mary, he went out on the moun- 
tain, and gathered a handful of roses from a barren 
rock that neither before or since has nourished vegeta- 
tion. The Virgin blessed the flowers, and threw them 
on the cloak of Diego, and bade him take them to the 
bishop. Diego obeyed ; he met the bishop at the gate 
of the palace, unfolded his serape, and exhibited to him 
not only the mountain flowers but a portrait of the 
Blessed Virgin. The archbishop was convinced, called 
the image on the cloak the Blessed Virgin of Guada- 
lupe, and ordered a beautiful church to be built where 
the Mother of God appeared to the lonely Indian. 

That chapel now stands, and is a spot of pilgrimage 
from all parts of Mexico. The shrine is as rich as any 
in the world, and the Indian's cloak now hangs in a case 
of gold amid a wilderness of candelabra of the same 
metal, worshipped by the faithful. On the festival day of 
the Virgin of Guadalupe, all Mexico rushes to its shrine, 
and the long causeway of the Aztec metropolis is 
thronged with persons of every grade. Mr. Gilliam, an 
intelligent traveller, saw there in 1843 the President 
Canaliza and all his cabinet, ecclesiastics of high rank, 
ladrones and leperos, all come to worship at the wonder- 
ful altar. It is scarcely necessary to say to the well in- 
formed reader, that this is one of the miracles of the 
church of Mexico, altogether unrecognised by the 
authorities of Rome. 

Next in the veneration of the present Mexican peo- 
ple to the Lady of Guadalupe, is our lady De Los 
Remedios — the origin of the worship of whom is not 



THE CHURCH. 297 

less strange. Cortes, the conqueror of Montezuma, 
was originally ordered to Mexico by Velasquez, the 
governor of Cuba, who, soon becoming jealous of him, 
revoked his commission before he had left the island. 
In this little episode of Cortes's life, we see the traces 
of all the events of the revolution and of the intellectual 
vivacity he afterwards displayed. El Conquistador was 
the last man in the world to exchange for a prison the pri- 
vileges of an independent command, and therefore boldly 
set sail in defiance of Velasquez's orders. The success of 
Cortes was soon related in Cuba, and an expedition under 
Narvaez was sent to dispossess him of his conquest, which 
rendered it obligatory on him to confide the garrison of 
Mexico to his subordinate, and to march to overpower 
Narvaez in person. How he did so is a matter of his- 
tory. On his return he found yet a new danger to be 
confi-onted. Alvarado had outraged the inhabitants, and 
Cortes found the whole nation in arms and was obliged 
to retreat. This he determined to do across the 
causeway of Tacuba, along which, amid the darkness 
of la noche triste, he cut his way to a lonely hill, about 
twelve miles from Mexico, where he fortified himself. 

In this sad retreat he had lost the flower of his army, 
and the remnant was dispirited and mutinous. It was 
one of those conjunctures, when the lion's skin having 
failed, recourse was to be had to the fox's, and by a 
daring imposture Cortes contrived to reanimate his 
army. One of his soldiers had brought far off fi^om 
Castile a little image of the Virgin in alabaster, it is not 
unlikely some memento of the friends he had left; at 
home. In the lonely hours of the camp Cortes had 
seen it, and determined to have recourse to it, to effect 
the restoration of the morale of his men. The soldiers 
ot Spain in iimerica at that age, were crusaders in 



298 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

spirit, and prepared to believe his story, that it had fallen 
from heaven and had brought a promise from on high, 
that all their troubles would be miraculously healed, 
and that they would be brought back in triumph to 
Mexico. The stout hearts of his men-at-arms accom- 
plished this, and the merit was attributed to la santisima 
Virgen de los Remedios. 

When his triumph was secure, El Conquistador 
erected a chapel on the hill on which he had encamped 
after la noche triste, in which was placed the wonderful 
image. There it has remained for three hundred years 
in a magnificent shrine, attended on by nuns. It is now 
one of the richest shrines in Mexico, and in seasons of 
plague, pestilence, and famine, the image is borne in 
procession through the streets of the neighboring capital, 
with a devout faith that by the intercession of the miracu- 
lous image, all evil will be arrested. This occurred but 
a few years since, on the occasion of the illness of the 
first wife of Santa Anna, when a grand procession took 
place, and all that was distinguished in Mexico, gene- 
rals, statesmen, and ecclesiastics, followed the miracu- 
lous image. 

The manner in which the cathedral at Puebla was 
built, the devout belief entertained that the angels of 
heaven came by night to work at its walls, and a hun- 
dred other superstitions, are all received in Mexico, by 
not only the mass, but by many of the most enlightened 
classes, and go to show, that if the religion of Mexico is 
not Protestant, it is surely not Roman CathoHc. 

At the head, however, of this vast ecclesiastical 
establishment, is the archbishop of Mexico, with seven 
suffragans. At the time of the revolution, Don Pedro 
Fonte withdrew from Mexico with many of his bishops, 
and resided in Spain until the time of his death, during 



THE CHURCH. 299 

which time their benefices, estimated as being worth 
$371,148, were sequestered by the government. The 
present incumbent, the Doctor Posada, is one who has won 
golden opinions from all, and who by his benevolence and 
humanity merits them. " JVo es dios el Sefwr Posada,^^ 
said a Mexican gentleman, several years since, to the 
writer of this book, <-^pero un hombre muy bueno.'^^ It 
may be worth while here to compare the statements of 
two travellers who have very little sympathy for each 
other — Mr. Thompson and Madame Calderon de la 
Barca — and see how they agree in the praise of the arch- 
bishop. The latter says : 

" Were I to choose a situation here, it would un- 
doubtedly be that of archbishop of Mexico, the most 
enviable in the world to those who would enjoy a 
life of tranquillity, ease, and universal adoration. He 
is a Pope without the trouble, or a tenth part of 
the responsibility. He is venerated more than the 
Holy Father is in enlightened Rome, and like kings 
in the good old times, can do no wrong. His salary 
amounts to about one hundred thousand dollars, and a 
revenue might be made by the sweetmeats alone which 
are sent him from all the nuns in the republic. His 
palace in town, his w^ell-cushioned carriage, well-con- 
ditioned horses and sleek mules, seem the very perfec- 
tion of comfort. In fact, comfort, which is unknown 
amteng the profane of Mexico, has taken refuge with 
the archbishop ; and though many drops of it are shed 
on the shaven heads of all bishops, curates, confessors, 
and friars, still in his illustrious person it concentrates, 
as in a focus. He himself is a benevolent, good- 
hearted, good-natured, portly and jovial personage, with 
the most laissez-aller air and expression conceivable. 
He looks like one on whom the good things of this 



300 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS. 

world have fallen in a constant and benignant shower, 
which shower hath fallen on a rich and fertile soil. 
He is generally to be seen leaning back in his carriage, 
dressed in purple, with amethyst cross, and giving his 
benediction to the people as he passes. He seems en- 
gaged in a pleasant revery, and his countenance wears 
an air of the most placid and insouciant content. He 
enjoys a good dinner, good wine, and ladies' society, but 
just sufficiently to make his leisure hours pass plea- 
santly, without indigestion from the first, headaches 
from the second, or heartaches from the third. So does 
his life seem to pass on like a deep untroubled stream, 
on whose margin grow sweet flowers, on whose clear 
waters the bending trees are reflected, but on whose 
placid face no lasting impression is made. 

" I have no doubt that his charities are in propor- 
tion to his large fortune ; and when I say that I have 
no doubt of this, it is because I firmly believe there 
exists no country in the world where charities both 
public and private are practised on so noble a scale, 
especially by the women, under the direction of the 
priests. I am inclined to believe that, generally speak- 
ing, charity is a distinguishing attribute of a Catholic 
country. 

" The archbishop is said to be a man of good in- 
formation, and was at one time a senator. In 1833, 
being comprehended in the law of banishment, canted 
by the political disturbances which have never ceased 
to afflict this country since the independence, he passed 
some time in the United States, chiefly in New Orleans, 
but this, I believe, is the only cloud that has darkened 
his horizon, or disturbed the tranquil current of his life. 
His consecration, with its attendant fatigues, must have 
been to him a wearisome overture to a pleasant drama, 



THE CHURCH. 301 

a hard stepping-stone to glory. As to the rest, he is 
very unostentatious ; and his conversation is far from 
austere. On the contrary, he is one of the best tem- 
pered and most cheerful old men in society that it is 
possible to meet with. . . ." 

Mr. Thompson says almost in the same words : " The 
archbishop of Mexico is a stout, healthy-looking and very 
agreeable old gentleman, the personification of a burly and 
jolly priest. He is a man of learning and well spoken of 
by every one. I took a great fancy to the archbishop 
of Cesarea, and I believe that it was in some degree 
mutual. I might almost say with the romantic German 
girl who met another over a stove, at an inn on the road- 
side, that at the first sight we swore ^ eternal friendship 
to each other.' When I was about to leave the room he 
came to me and asked where I lived, and said that he 
intended to call upon me. I begged that he would not 
do so, but allow me to make the first visit (for that is the 
custom in Mexico), the stranger making the first call 
upon the resident. But the next day, the good old man 
called at my house, and as I happened not to be at home 
he would not leave his card, but told my servant that 
he would call again, as he did not wish me to regard 
his visit as one of mere form. This, of course, brought 
about a great intimacy between us, and I often visited 
him at his country house on the borders of the city. I 
shall never forget the pleasant hours which I have spent 
there, nor cease to remember the venerable and good 
old man with gratitude and affection. He is a man of 
learning, especially on all matters connected with the 
church and its history." 

To the Santa Fe and other Texan prisoner:?, he was 
uniformly kind, and no man in Mexico has been heard 



302 MEXICO AND HER MILITARY CHIEFTAINS, 

to say one word to the discredit of the good old arch- 
bishops of Mexico and Cesarea. 

The following are the several sees and the amount of 
their revenues in 1805, since when, by the increase 
of the mining operations, they have probably doubled in 
value. 

Mexico - - - $130,000 

Puebla - - - - 110,000 

Valladolid - - - 100,000 

Guadalajara - - - 90,000 

Durango - - - 35,000 

Monterey - - - - 30,000 

Yucatan* - - - 20,000 

Oaxaca . - - - 18,000 

Sonora - - - 6,000 

The above dignitaries preside over the religion of 
Mexico, which permits no dissent ; so much so that it 
was long impossible to procure even the right of burial 
but by bribery, for a person not a Catholic. In 1825, 
even the capital of Mexico was not exempt from this 
barbarous prohibition, from which there would now be 
no escape but for a singular speech of Senator Canedo. 
The matter being under discussion, that gentleman said : 
" I perfectly assent to the principles of my colleagues 
remarks, but only regret they cannot be reduced to prac- 
tice, and therefore would vote against their propositions. 
It could not be denied there were many foreigners in 
Mexico, and as a necessary consequence, some of them 
must die. What, then, shall we do with their bodies? 
I see but four modes of disposing of them ; to bury, to 
burn, to eat, or to export them. To dispose of them in 
the first manner my reverend colleagues would not con- 
sent ; the second is too expensive ; the third I have no 
objection to, provided I am not called on to officiate; 



THE CHURCH. 303 

and dead heretics are not included in the last tariff. I 
vote, therefore, for burial, as the least of four evils." 

The senate agreed with Senor Canedo, and heretics 
may be buried in Mexico in a separate cemetery. 

The council of the Indies contributed more than any 
other cause to the corruption of religion in Mexico, from 
the fact that it allowed no direct intercourse with the 
Holy See ; permitted no delegate or nuncio to visit the 
new world, and no bull or rescript to be published until 
fortified by the placet of the king or council. To this 
may be attributed the corruption of the faith by Aztec 
traditions, and that independence which makes the 
Mexican church what it is, a mass of corruption, witll 
but little dependence on the Pope. 



ADDITIONA L CHAPTER. 

Causes of the present war — Mexican spoliations — Annexation 
of Texas to the United States — Palo Alto — Resaca de la 
Palma — Monterey — Buena Vista — ^Vera Cruz-7-Cerro Gordo. 

Almost from the commencement of the Mexican 
republic, outrages on the persons and property of 
American citizens have been committed in Mexico, and 
redress has always been either positively refused, or so 
delayed that both there and in the United States the 
idea became current that such violations of the laws of 
nations w^ere to be overlooked and unpunished. 

This course on the part of Mexico was especially 
disgraceful, as the United States had been the first 
nation to recognise her separate existence, and Ameri- 
can citizen^ had fought well in more than one of the 
battles of her revolution. The many changes of the 
executive brought no change of policy, and our 
countrymen began to look on the state of things as 
hopeless. 

Often trivial pretexts were made use of to justify 
these acts, and a shadow of provocation sometimes 
found in the adventurous character of American mer- 
chants and seamen, who, altogether unused to civil war 
at home, could not be brought to respect blockades 
where both parties fought under the same flag, and 
were equally loud in their professions of love to a 
common country. 

This state of things was endured patiently by the 



MEXICAN SPOLIATIONS. 305 

government and people of this country, because both the 
one and the other were unwilling to add to the burdens 
of Mexico, and hoped that a calmer day w^ould break 
over the sister republic, and a season of peace at home 
enable her to attend to her foreign obligations. 

On the 5th of April, 1831, a treaty of amity and 
navigation was concluded between the republics ; but 
almost before the ink on the parchment was dry, fresh 
outrages were perpetrated, so that within six years 
after that date. General Jackson, in a message to 
Congress, declared that they had become intolerable, 
and that the honor of the United States required that 
Mexico should be taught to respect our flag. 

He declared that war should not be used as a 
remedy " by just and generous nations confiding in their 
strength for injuries committed, if it can be honorably 
avoided ;" and added, " it has occurred to me that con- 
sidering the present embarrassed condition of that 
country, w^e should act with both wisdom and modera- 
tion, by giving to Mexico one more opportunity to atone 
for the past, before we take redress into our own hands. 
To avoid all misconception on the part of Mexico, as 
w^ell as to protect our national character from reproach, 
this opportunity should be given with the avowed design 
and full preparation to take immediate satisfaction, if it 
should not be obtained on a repetition of the demand 
for it. To this end I recommend that an act be passed 
authorizing reprisals, and the use of the naval force of 
the United States, by the executive, against Mexico, to 
enforce them in the event of a refusal by the Mexican 
government to come to an amicable adjustment of the 
matters in controversy between us, upon another demand 
thereof, made from on board of one of our vessels of 
war on the coast of Mexico." 
20 



306 MEXICAN SPOLIATIONS. 

Both houses of congress coincided with him ; but the 
senate recommended, the house of representatives con- 
curring, that another demand be made, which, shouhl it 
be disregarded, would justify the United States in taking 
into their own hands the redress of the many injuries 
they had received. 

Immediately, a special messenger was despatched to 
Mexico, to make a final demand for redress ; and on 
the 20th of July, 1837, the demand was made. The 
reply of the Mexican government on the 29th of the 
same month, contains assurances of the " anxious wish" 
of the Mexican government, "not to delay the mo- 
ment of that final and equitable adjustment which is 
to terminate the existing difficulties between the two 
governments ;" that " nothing should be left undone 
which may contribute to the most speedy and equitable 
determination of the subjects which have so seriously 
engaged the attention of the American government;" 
that the " Mexican government would adopt, as the only 
guides for its conduct, the plainest principles of public 
right, the sacred obligations imposed by international 
law, and the religious faith of treaties;" and that 
" whatever reason and justice may dictate respecting 
each case will be done." The assurance was further 
given, that the decision of the Mexican government 
upon each cause of complaint, for which redress has 
been demanded, should be communicated to the govern- 
ment of the United States by the Mexican minister at 
Washington. 

These solemn assurances, in answer to demands for 
redress, were never fulfilled. By making them, how- 
ever, Mexico obtained further delay. 

During the whole administration of Mr. Van Buren 
a similar state of affairs existed, and though the presi- 



MEXICAN SPOLIATIONS. 307 

dent urged the adoption of decisive measures, yet from 
feelings of forbearance, and a disposition to avoid the 
presentation to the civihzed world, of the two greatest 
republics of the universe, following the example of mo- 
narchical rulers, wrangling in forgetfulness of their true 
interest, congress hesitated. 

On the 11th of April, 1839, a joint commission was 
appointed, w^hich, however, was not organized until 
August 11th, 1840. The powers of the commission by 
the act creating it, terminated in February, 1842, and 
Mr. Polk, in his last annual message, thus characterizes 
its conduct : 

" Four of the eighteen months were consumed in 
preliminary discussions on frivolous and dilatory points 
raised by the Mexican commissioners ; and it was not 
until the month of December, 1840, that they com- 
menced the examination of the claims of our citizens 
upon Mexico. Fourteen months only remained to 
examine and decide upon these numerous and compli- 
cated cases. In the month of February, 1842, the term 
of the commission expired, leaving many claims undis- 
posed of for want of time. The claims which were 
allowed by the board, and by the umpire authorized by 
the convention to decide in case of disagreement between 
the Mexican and American commissioners, amounted to 
two millions twenty-six thousand one hundred and 
thirty-nine dollars and sixty-eight cents. There were 
pending before the umpire w^hen the commission expired 
additional claims which had been examined and awarded 
by the American commissioners, and had not been 
allowed by the Mexican commissioners, amounting to 
nine hundred and twenty-eight thousand six hundred 
and twenty-seven dollars and eight cents, upon which 
he did not decide, alleging that his authority had ceased 



308 MEXICAN SPOLIATIONS. 

"with the termination of the joint commission. Besides 
these claims, there were others of American citizens, 
amounting to three millions three hundred and thirty-six 
tliousand eight hundred and thirty-seven dollars and five 
cents, which had been submitted to the board, and upon 
which they had not time to decide before their final 
adjournment. 

" The sum of two millions twenty-six thousand one 
hundred and thirty-nine dollars and sixty-eight cents, 
w^hich had been awarded to the claimants, w^as a liqui- 
dated and ascertained debt due by Mexico, about which 
there could be no dispute, and which she was bound to 
pay according to the terms of the convention. Soon 
after the final awards for this amount had been made, 
the Mexican government asked for a postponement of 
the time of making the payment at the time stipulated. 
In the spirit of forbearing kindness towards a sister 
republic, which Mexico has so long abused, the United 
States promptly complied with her request. A second 
convention was accordingly concluded between the two 
governments on the 30th of January, 1843, which upon 
its face declares, that ^ this new arrangement is entered 
into for the accommodation of Mexico.' By the terms 
of this convention, all the interest due on the awards 
which had been made in favor of the claimants under 
the convention of the 11th of April, 1839, was to be 
paid to them on the 30th of April, 1843, and the 'prin- 
cipal of the said awards, ^nd the interest accruing 
thereon,' was stipulated to «be paid in five years, in 
equal instalments every three months.' Notwithstanding 
this new convention was entered into at the request of 
Mexico, and for the purpose of relieving her from em- 
barrassment, the claimants have only received the inter- 
est due on the 30th of April, 1843, and three of the 



MEXICAN SPOLIATIONS. 309 

twenty instalments. Although the payment of the sum 
thus liquidated, and confessedly due by Mexico to our 
citizens as indemnity for acknowledged acts of outrage 
and wTong, was secured by treaty, the obligations of 
which are ever held sacred by all just nations, yet 
Mexico has violated this solemn engagement by failing 
and refusing to make the payment. The two instalments 
due in April and July, 1844, under the pecuhar circum- 
stances connected with them, have been assumed by the 
United States and discharged to the claimants, but they 
are still due by Mexico. But this is not all of which 
we have just cause of complaint. To provide a remedy 
for the claimants whose cases were not decided by the 
joint commission under the convention of April the 11th, 
1839, it was expressly stipulated by the sixth article of 
the convention of the 30th of January, 1843, that «« a 
new^ convention be entered into for the settlement of all 
claims of the government and citizens of the United 
States against the republic of Mexico which w^ere not 
finally decided by the late commission, which met in the 
city of Washington, and of all claims of the government 
and citizens of Mexico against the United States.' 

" In conformity with this stipulation, a third conven- 
tion w^as concluded and signed at the city of Mexico on 
the 20th of November, 1843, by the plenipotentiaries of 
the two governments, by which provision was made for 
ascertaining and paying these claims. In January, 
1844, this convention was ratified by the senate of the 
United States with two amendments, which were mani- 
festly reasonable in their character. Upon a reference 
to the amendments proposed to the government of 
Mexico, the same evasions, difficulties, and delays were 
interposed which have so long marked the policy of that 
government tow^ards the United States. It has not even 



310 ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 

yet decided whether it would or would not accede to 
them, although the subject has been repeatedly pressed 
upon its consideration." 

By failing to carry out the stipulations of this last 
convention, Mexico again outraged the government of 
the United States. 

This long series of outrages was no doubt a reason 
for war, but it may be doubted if it produced the 
existing hostilities with Mexico. It has ever been the 
policy of the United States to recognise all governments 
existing de facto, a rule which induced Mr. Monroe to 
recommend the institution of diplomatic intercourse with 
Mexico, and all the South American repubUcs, as 
soon as they had exhibited to the w^orld their capacity 
to defend themselves. Mexico should not complain 
that the United States pleased to recognise Texas as 
free and independent, since it followed as a corollary 
from the conduct of the same government towards herself. 
On the 21st day of April, 1836, Santa Anna had been 
defeated by Houstffn, since w^hen a Mexican soldier has 
never been in Texas ; and in May, 1836, the president 
of Mexico, in a solemn treaty, recognised the inde- 
pendence of that republic. It is not pretended that 
that treaty is binding on Mexico, which never ratified 
it, except so far that it estops her from complaining if 
other nations follow the example of the chief magistrate 
of Mexico, and look on the rebel province as a sove- 
reign state. 

On the 29th day of December, 1845, Texas w^as 
admitted into the North American Union, as the 
government understood it, embracing all the territory 
ceded to Spain by the Florida treaty of 1819, and also 
that territory beyond the Neuces over which the repub- 
lic of Texas had exercised sovereign rights. 



ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 311 

Mr. Polk, in his message, thus defines the pre- 
tensions of the United States : 

" The congress of Texas, on the 19th of December, 
1836, passed ' an act to define the boundaries of the 
republic of Texas,' in which they declared the Rio 
Grande, from its mouth to its source, to be their 
boundary ; and by the said act they extended their 
' civil and political jurisdiction' over the country up 
to that boundary. During a period of more than 
nine years, which intervened between the adoption of 
her constitution and her annexation as one of the states 
of the Union, Texas asserted and exercised many acts 
of sovereignty and jurisdiction over the territory and 
inhabitants west of the Neuces. She organized and 
defined the limits of counties extending to the Rio 
Grande. She established courts of justice, and ex- 
tended her judicial system over the territory. She 
established a custom-house, and collected duties, and 
also post offices and post roads, in it. She established 
a land office, and issued numerous grants for land, 
within its limits. A senator and a representative 
residing in it were elected to the congress of the 
republic, and served as such before the act of annex- 
ation took place. In both the congress and convention 
of Texas, which gave their assent to the terms of 
annexation to the United States proposed by our con- 
gress, were representatives residing west of the Neuces, 
who took part in the act of annexation itself. This 
was the Texas which, by the act of our congress of the 
29th of December, 1845, was admitted as one of the 
states of our Union. That the congress of the United 
States understood the state of Texas which they ad- 
mitted into the union to extend beyond the Neuces, is 
apparent, from the fact that on the 31st of December, 



312 COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES. 

1845, only two days after the act of admission, they 
passed a law ' to establish a collection district in the 
state of Texas,' by ^vhich they created a port of de- 
livery at Corpus Christi, situated west of the Neuces, 
and being the same point at which the Texas custom- 
house, under the laws of the republic, had been located, 
and directed that a surveyor to collect the revenue 
should be appointed for that port by the president, by 
and with the advice and consent of the senate. A 
surveyor was accordingly nominated, and confirmed by 
the senate, and has been ever since in the performance 
of his duties. All these acts of the republic of Texas, 
and of our congress, preceded the orders for the 
advance of our army to the east bank of the Rio 
Grande. Subsequently congress passed an act ' es- 
tablishing certain post routes,' extending west of the 
Neuces." 

It is not unlikely there would have been no war, at 
least immediately, had not the United States occupied 
the country west of the Neuces, which was done by 
General Taylor, who encamped at Corpus Christi in 
August, 1845, where the army remained until March 

1846, when it moved westward to the east bank of the 
Rio Grande, opposite Matamoras. While these move- 
ments were being made, an agent of the United States, 
Mr. Shdell, was in Mexico insisting on being received 
as a plenipotentiary, while Mexico would only recognise 
him as a commissioner, a circumstance w^hich produced 
much acrimonious discussion in both republics. 

On the 4th of March, Paredes, then president, 
through his secretary of war ordered the Mexican 
general on the Texan frontier to attack the army of 
the United States. 

General Arista at once obeyed his orders by rendering 



PALO ALTO. 313 

It no longer doubtful that the two armies were in a 
state of hostility. After several skirmishes, in one of 
which Captain Thornton was captured with a squadron 
of dragoons, in another, Lieutenant Porter, of the fourth 
infantry, was killed, and a gallant officer of Texas 
troops had a narrow escape. Fort Browm, a strong work 
thrown up by General Taylor opposite Matamoras, was 
attacked by a powerful force under cover of the ord- 
nance of the city, and a strong battery erected by the 
Mexicans during the night of the 4th. The bom- 
bardment lasted during the 6th (when the commander 
of the fort, Major Brown, was killed) ; and during the 
8th, when under the command of Major Hawkins, the 
garrison continued to make good their defence. They 
were successful ; and during the day the firing told them 
General Taylor was engaged with the main Mexican 
army. 

During the events which transpired in front of Fort 
Brown, both armies had been busy, General Taylor 
having gone to the assistance of Point Isabel, which w^as 
menaced by the Mexican force, and from which he ex- 
pected to obtain supphes for the rest of his troops. The 
force of the American general was small ; but rarely 
has any commander led better troops to battle than 
Taylor, on the 8th of May, arrayed in front of the 
opposing force ; on the right w^as the light artillery of 
Ringgold, a battahon of fifth and third infantry, on the 
left another fight battery, commanded by Duncan, and 
battalions of the fourth and eighth infantry, all veteran 
troops, which, during the war in Florida, had undergone 
the baptism of fire, and been subjected to all the ordeals 
incident to a partisan war. The cavalry was held in 
reserve. 

The enemy numbered six thousand men. The first 
prominent movement they made was an attempt to pass 



314 RESACA DE LA PALMA. 

around the chapparal which protected the right of the 
American forces, and attack the train with suppHes. 
This effort was foiled by the fifth foot, which wheeled 
into square, received the charge of the Mexican lancers, 
and sent them to the right-about with a volley which 
did no little execution. The lancers w^ere, however, 
again rallied and brought to the attack, when the third 
infantry, in column of divisions, met them. They im- 
mediately retired after receiving the fire of a section of 
light artillery commanded by Lieutenant Ridgely, which 
had been detached from Ringgold's battery. 

The left of the enemy was mowed down by the 
American artillery, though the eighth foot suffered much 
from the Mexican fire. The result of the day was that 
the American right occupied the ground on which the 
enemy had originally stood. This was the result of the 
battle of Palo Alto. 

On the 9th of May, Geii. Taylor collected his own 
and the enemy's wounded into one hospital, among 
whom were many gallant officers ; and moved in pur- 
suit of the retreating enemy towards Resaca de la Palma. 

This battle w^as essentially one of the bayonet and 
sabre, assisted by the artillery. Here it was that May 
made his famous charge, which already has become cele- 
brated as the deeds of Cromwell's ironsides, and the as- 
saults of Lee's legion. He lost at least one-half of his 
men, but was lucky enough to take the battery he as- 
saulted, and with it the Mexican General Romulo de la 
Vega. The enemy subsequently retook this battery ; 
but, at the end of the day, it was in possession of the 
fifth regiment of United States infantry, which captured 
it at the point of the bayonet, a second time. 

The following are General Taylor's despatches, giv- 
ing an account of these battles : — 



315 

Head-Quarters Army of Occupation, ) 
Camp at Palo Alto. Texas, May 9, 1846. j 
Sir : I have the honor to report that I was met near 
this place yesterday, on my march from Point Isabel, by 
the Mexican forces, and after an action of about five 
hours, dislodged them from their position and encamped 
upon the field. Our artillery, consisting of two eigh- 
teen pounders and two light batteries, was the arm 
chiefly engaged, and to the excellent manner in which 
it was manoeuvred and served, is our success mainly due. 
The strength of the enemy is believed to have been 
about 6000 men, with seven pieces of artillery, and 
800 cavalry. His loss is probably at least one hundred 
killed. Our strength did not exceed, all told, twenty- 
three hundred, while our loss was comparatively trifling 
— four men killed, three officers and thirty-seven men 
wounded, several of the latter mortally. I regret to 
say that Major Ringgold, 2d artillery, and Captain 
Page, 4th infantry, are severely w^ounded. Lieutenant 
Luther, 2d artillery, slightly so. 

The enemy has fallen back, and it is believed has re- 
passed the river. I have advanced parties now thrown 
forward in his direction, and shall move the main body 
immediately. 

In the haste of this report, 1 can only say that the 
officers and men behaved in the most admirable manner 
throughout the action. I shall have the pleasure of 
making a more detailed report when those of the diffe- 
rent commanders shall be received. 

I am, sir, very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

Z. TAYLOR, 
Brevet Brigadier-General U. S. ^., Commanding. 
The Adjutant-General, U. S. Army, 
Washington, D. C. 



316 



Head-Quarters Army of Occupation, \ 
Camp at Resaca de la Palma^ 3 miles from \ 
Matamoras, 10 o^clock^P.M., May 9, 1846. ) 

Sir : I have the honor to report that I marched with 
the main body of the army at two o'clock to-day, having 
previously thrown forward a body of light infantry into 
the forest which covers the Matamoras road. When 
near the spot where I am now encamped, my advance 
discovered that a ravine crossing the road had been 
occupied by the enemy with artillery. I immediately 
ordered a battery of field artillery to sweep the position, 
flanking and sustaining it by the 3d, 4th, and 5th regi- 
ments, deployed as skirmishes to the right and left. A 
heavy fire of artillery and of musketry was kept up for 
some time, until finally the enemy's batteries were carried 
in succession by a squadron of dragoons and the regi- 
ments of infantry that w^ere on the ground. He was 
soon driven from his position, and pursued by a squadron 
of dragoons, battalion of artillery, 3d infantry, and a 
light battery, to the river. Our victory has been com- 
plete. Eight pieces of artillery, with a great quantity 
of ammunition, three standards, and some one hundred 
prisoners have been taken ; among the latter. General 
La Vega, and several other officers. One general is 
understood to have been killed. The enemy has re- 
crossed the river, and I am sure will not again molest us 
on this bank. 

The loss of the enemy in killed has been most severe. 
Our own has been very heavy, and I deeply regret to 
report that Lieutenant Inge, 2d dragoons. Lieutenant 
Cochrane, 4lh infantry, and Lieutenant Chadbourne, 8th 
fnfantry, w^ere killed oti the field. Lieutenant-Colonel 
Payne, 4th artillery ; Lieutenant-Colonel Mcintosh, Lieu- 



Taylor's despatch. 317 

tenant Dobbins, 3d infantry ; Captain Hooe and Lieu- 
tenant Fowler, 5th infantry ; and Captain Montgomery, 
Lieutenants Gates, Selden, McClay, Burbank, and 
Jordan, 8th infantry, were wounded. The extent of 
our loss in killed and wounded is not yet ascertained, 
and is reserved for a more detailed report. 

The aiFair of to-day may be regarded as a proper 
supplement to the cannonade of yesterday ; and the 
two taken together, exhibit the coolness and gallantry 
of our officers and men in the most favorable light. 
All have done their duty, and done it nobly. It will 
be my pride, in a more circumstantial report of both 
actions, to dwell upon particular instances of individual 
distinction. 

It affords me pecuHar pleasure to report, that the 
field work opposite Matamoras has sustained itself 
handsomely during a cannonade and bombardment of 
160 hours. But the pleasure is alloyed with profound 
regret at the loss of its heroic and indomitable com- 
mander, Major Brown, who died to-day from the effects 
of a shell. His loss would be a severe one to the service 
at any time, but to the army under my orders it is 
indeed irreparable. One officer and one non-com« 
missioned officer killed, and ten men wounded, comprise 
all the casualties incident to this severe bombardment. 

I inadvertently omitted to mention the capture of a 
large number of pack-mules left in the Mexican camp. 
I am, sir, very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

Z. TAYLOR, 

Brevet Brigadier-General U. S. A, Commanding. 

The Adjutant-General of the Army, 
Washington, D. C. 
14 



318 arista's bulletin. 

In the interim Fort Brown had been summoned, and 
the garrison been informed that Taylor was defeated. 
The lie was, however, unproductive, as both officers and 
men knew better, having served with Taylor in the 
everglades, and knew he was emphatically one of those 
who might die, but never surrender. 

The following is the bulletin of the Mexican com- 
mander to his superior, a strange contrast to the sim- 
plicity and terseness of the successful general : 



Most Excellent Sir : Constant in my purpose of 
preventing General Taylor from uniting the forces which 
he brought from the Fronton of Santa Isabel, with 
those which he left fortified opposite Matamoras, I 
moved this day from the Fanques del Raminero, whence 
I despatched my last extraordinary courier, and took the 
direction of Palo Alto, as soon as my spies informed me 
that the enemy had left Fronton, with the determination 
of introducing into his fort wagons loaded with provi- 
sions and heavy artillery. 

I arrived opposite Palo Alto about one o'clock, and 
observed that the enemy was entering that position. 

With all my forces, I established the line of battle in 
a great plain, my right resting upon an elevation, and 
my left on a slough of difficult passage. 

Scarcely was the first cannon fired, when there arrived 
General Pedro de Ampudia, second in command, whom 
I had ordered to join me after having covered the points 
which might serve to besiege the enemy in the forts 
opposite Matamoras. 

The forces under my orders amounted to three thou- 
sand men, and twelve pieces of artillery ; those of the 



aeista's bulletin. 319 

invaders were three thousand, rather less than more, 
and were superior in artillery, since they had twenty 
pieces of the calibre of sixteen and eighteen pounds. 

The battle commenced so ardently, that the fire of 
cannon did not cease a single moment. In the course 
of it, the enemy wished to follow the road towards 
Matamoras, to raise the siege of his troops ; with which 
object he fired the grass, and formed in front of his line 
of battle a smoke so thick, that he succeeded in covering 
himself from our view, but by means of manceuvres this 
was twice embarrassed. 

General Taylor maintained his attack rather defen- 
sively than offensively, employing his best arm, which 
is artillery, protected by half of the infantry, and all of 
his cavalry — keeping the remainder fortified in the 
ravine, about two thousand yards from the field of 
battle. 

I was anxious for the charge, because the fire of can- 
non did much damage in our ranks, and I instructed 
General D. Anastasio Torrejon to execute it with the 
greater part of the cavalry, by our left flank, while one 
should be executed at the same time by our right flank, 
with some columns of infantry, and the remainder of 
that arm [cavalry]. 

I was waiting the moment when that general should 
execute the charge, and the effect of it should begin to 
be seen, in order to give the impulse on the right; but 
he was checked by the fire of the enemy, which defended 
a slough that embarrassed the attack. 

Some battalions, becoming impatient by the loss 
which they suffered, fell into disorder, demanding to 
advance or fall back. I immediately caused them to 
charge with a column of cavalry, under the command 



320 arista's bulletin. 

of Colonel D. Cayetano Montero ; the result of this ope- 
ration being that the dispersed corps repaired their fault 
as far as possible, marching towards the enemy, who, in 
consequence of his distance, was enabled to fall back 
upon his reserve, and night coming on, the battle was 
concluded — the field remaining for our arms. 

Every suitable measure was then adopted, and the 
division took up a more concentrated curve in the same 
scene of action. 

The combat was long and bloody, which may be esti- 
mated from the calculations made by the commandant- 
general of artillery. General D. Thomas Requena, who 
assures me that the enemy threw about three thousand 
cannon-shots from two in the afternoon, when the battle 
commenced, until seven at night, when it terminated — 
six hundred and fifty being fired on our side. 

The national arms shone forth, since they did not 
yield a hand's-breadth of ground, notwithstanding the 
superiority in artillery of the enemy, who suffered much 
damage. 

Our troops have to lament the loss of two hundred 
and fifty-two men, dispersed, wounded, and killed — 
the last worthy of national recollection and gratitude for 
the intrepidity with which they died fighting for the 
most sacred of causes. 

Will your excellency please with this note to report 
to his excellency the president, representing to him that 
I will take care to give a circumstantial account of this 
deed of arms ; and recommending to him the good 
conduct of all the generals, chiefs, officers, and soldiers 
under my orders, for sustaining so bloody a combat, 
which does honor to our arms, and exhibits their dis- 
cipline. 



MONTEREY. 32X 

Accept the assurances of my consideration and great 
regard. 

God and Liberty ! 
Head-Quarters, Palo Alto, in sight of the eiiemy, May 8, 
1846. 

MARIANO ARISTA. 
Most Excellent Sir, j 

Minister of War and Marine. ) 

Many were the incidents of humanity which occur- 
red and relieved the sternness of the battle-field, but 
which it scarcely belongs to our plan to relate. 

The result of these battles was, that Matamoras surren- 
dered, and General Taylor having been reinforced was 
enabled to march to Monterey, which he reached on the 
19th of October, encamping at the Walnut Springs, 
within three miles of the city. 

The attack was made, and after four days' contmual 
fighting. General Ampudia, on the 24th of October, sent 
a commission proposing to surrender ; and finally terms 
were agreed on by the representatives of the two gene- 
rals, as follows : 

Terms of capitulation of the city of Monterey^ the 
capital of JVuevo Leon, agreed upon by the undersigned 
commissioners, to wit : General Worth, of the United 
States army. General Henderson, of the Texan volun- 
teers, and Colonel Davis, of the Mississippi riflemen, on 
the part of Major-General Taylor, Commander-in-chief 
of the United States forces, and General Requena and 
General M. Llano, Governor of Nuevo Leon, on the 
part of Senor General Don Pedro Ampudia, command- 
ing in chief the army of the north of Mexico. 

Article I. As the legitimate result of the operations 
before this place, and the present position of the con- 
21 



322 MONTEREY. 

tending armies, it is agreed that the city, the fortifica- 
tions, cannon, the munitions of war, and all other public 
property, with the undermentioned exceptions, be sur- 
rendered to the commanding general of the United 
States forces now at Monterey. 

Article II. That the Mexican forces be allowed to 
retain the following arms, to wit: the commissioned 
officers their side-arms, the infantry their arms and 
accoutrements, the cavalry their arms and accoutrements, 
the artillery one field battery, not to exceed six pieces, 
with twenty-one rounds of ammunition. 

Article III. That the Mexican armed forces retire, 
within seven days from this date, beyond the line formed 
by the pass of Rinconada, the city of Linares, and San 
Fernando de Parras. 

Article IV. That the citadel of Monterey be evacu- 
ated by the Mexican and occupied by the American 
forces to-morrow morning at ten o'clock. 

Article V. To avoid collisions, and for mutual con- 
venience, that the troops of the United States will not 
occupy the city until the Mexican forces have withdrawn, 
except for hospital and storage purposes. 

Article VI. That the forces of the United States 
will not advance beyond the line specified in the 3d 
article, before the expiration of eight weeks, or until 
orders or instructions of the respective governments can 
be received. 

Artice VII. That the public property to be delivered, 
shall be turned over and received by officers appointed 
by the commanding generals of the two armies. 

Article VIII. That all doubts as to the meaning of 
any of the preceding articles, shall be solved by an equi- 
table construction, or on principles of liberality to the 
retiring army. 



MONTEREY. 323 

Article IX. That the Mexican flag, when struck at 
the citadel, may be saluted by its own battery. 
Done at Monterey, Sept. 24, 1846. 
W. J. WORTH, 
Brigadier- General United States Army. 
J. PINKNEY HENDERSON, 
Major- General commanding the Texan Volunteers. 
JEFFERSON DAVIS, 

Colonel Mississippi Riflemen. 
MANUEL L. LLANO, 
T. REQUENA, 
ORTEGA. 
Approved, 

Z. TAYLOR, 
Major- General United States Army, commanding. 
PEDRO AMPUDIA. 

Rarely has it ever happened that any surrender has 
been made with which so much fault has been found. 
For yielding up Monterey, General Ampudia has been 
arraigned, and virtually suspended from command, be- 
cause he did not properly support the interests of Mexico, 
while a large party in the United States have sought to 
censure General Taylor, and have by implication, done 
so, because he did not insist on an unconditional surren- 
der. The probability is that injustice was done to both 
generals. 

For want of troops and supplies, General Taylor was 
long detained at Monterey. 

In the mean time the general-in-chief of the army had 
been ordered to assume the command of a large force 
prepared for the purpose of attacking Vera Cruz and 
the powerful fort of San Juan de Ulloa, with orders from 
Washington city to withdraw from General Taylor the 
regulars under his command, who had fought so gal- 



324 BUENA VISTA. 

lantly at Monterey and in the previous battles, the num- 
ber of which was six hundred men. General Taylor, 
somev^'hat chagrined at the circumstance, immediately 
detached General Worth with them to join General 
Scott, and having learned that an attempt was about to 
be made to cut off his communication with Matamoras, 
he determined to advance and meet the Mexican presi- 
dent. On the 20th of February he was encamped at 
Agua Nueva, about eighteen miles south of Saltillo, 
where he learned that Santa Anna, at the head of twenty 
thousand men, was about twenty miles from him. 

The American general at once fell back to an admi- 
rable position about seven miles from Saltillo, called 
Buena Vista. 

On the 22d the American troops were in position 
with the Mexican cavalry in front of them. 

General Taylor thus describes it : " Our troops were 
in position, occupying a line of remarkable strength. 
The road at this point becomes a narrow defile, the 
valley on its right being rendered quite impracticable 
for artillery by a system of deep and impassable gullies, 
while on the left a succession of rugged ridges and pre- 
cipitous ravines extends far back toward the mountain 
which bounds the valley. The features of the ground 
were such as nearly to paralyze the artillery and cavalry 
of the enemy, while his infantry could not derive all the 
advantage of its numerical superiority. In this position 
w^e prepared to receive him. Captain Washington's 
battery (4th artillery) w^as posted to command the road, 
while the 1st and 2d Jllinois regiments, under Colonels 
Hardin and Bissel, each eight companies (to the latter 
of which was attached Captain Conner's company of 
Texas volunteers), and the 2d Kentucky, under Colonel 
McKee, occupied the crests of the ridges on the left and 



BUENA VISTA. 



325 



in rear. The Arkansas and Kentucky regiments of 
cavalry, commanded by Colonels Yell and H. Marshall, 
occupied the extreme left near the base of the mountain, 
while the Indiana brigade, under Brigadier-General 
Lane (composed of the 2d and 3d regiments, under 
Colonels Bowles and Lane), the Mississippi riflemen, 
under Colonel Davis, the squadrons of the 1st and 2d 
dragoons, under Captain Steen and Lieutenant-Colonel 
May, and the light batteries of Captains Sherman and 
Bragg, 3d artillery, were held in reserve." 

At eleven o'clock, Santa Anna sent the following 
summons to General Taylor, which, with the reply, is 
subjoined : 

Summons of General Santa Anna to General Taylor. 

You are surrounded by twenty thousand men, and 
cannot, in any human probability, avoid suffering a rout, 
and being cut to pieces with your troops ; but as you 
deserve consideration and particular esteem, I wish to 
save you from a catastrophe, and for that purpose give 
you this notice, in order that you may surrender at dis- 
cretion, under the assurance that you will be treated 
with the consideration belonging to the Mexican cha- 
racter, to which end you will be granted an hour's time 
to make up your mind, to commence from the moment 
when my flag of truce arrives in your camp. 

With this view, I assure you of my particular con- 
sideration. 

God and Liberty. Camp at Encantada, February 
22d, 1847. 

ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA. 

To General Z. Taylor, \ 

Commanding the forces of the U. S. ) 

14* 



326 BUENA VISTA, 

Head-Quarters Army of Occupation, | 
Near Bucna Vista, February 22. 1847. j 

Sir : In reply to your note of this date, summoning 
me to surrender my forces at discretion, I beg leave ^o 
say that I decline acceding to your request. 
With high respect, I am, sir. 

Your obedient servant, 

Z. TAYLOR, 
Major General U. S. Army, Commanding, 
Senor Gen. D. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, \ 
Commander-in-Chief, La Encantada. J 

At night-fall many brave men had fallen. General 
Taylor was in possession of the field, and when morning 
came the enemy had retreated. 

Among the dead none were more lamented than 
Captain George Lincoln, of the army, an assistant adju- 
tant-general, and Colonels Hardin, McKee, ami Yell, 
and lieutenant-colonel Clay, of the volunteers. 

Santa Anna retreated, but he contrived to raise a 
report which represented him as victorious, too curious 
to be omitted. Even the Mexicans, however, did not 
believe it. The extracts which follow will suffice to 
show its tenor : 

« On the 26th, afler I had ordered General Minon to 
follow the movement, the army commenced its retreat 
with the view of occupying the first peopled localities, 
where resources might be obtained, such as Vanegas, 
Catorce, El Cadral, and Matehuala, as also Tula ; but 
I doubt if in those places proper attention can be given 
to the sick and wounded — or the losses we have sustained 
in those laborious movements be remedied. 

<< The nation, for which a triumph has been gained at 
the cost of so many sufferings, will learn that, if we 



• VERA CRUZ. B21 

were able to conquer in the midst of so many embrrass- 
ments, there will be no doubt as to our final success in 
the struggle we sustain, if every spirit but rallies to the 
one sacred object of common defence. A mere deter- 
mined number of men will not, as many imagine, suffice 
for the prosecution of war; it is indispensable that 
they be armed, equipped, disciplined, and habituated, 
and that systematized support for such an organized force 
be provided. We must bear in mind that we have to 
combat in a region deficient of all resources, and that 
everything for subsistence has to be carried along with 
the soldiery : the good-will of a few will not suffice, but 
the co-operation of all is needed ; and if we do not cast 
aside selfish interests and petty passions, we can expect 
nothing but disaster. The army, and myself who have 
led it, have the satisfaction of knowing that we have 
demonstrated this truth. 

" Your excellency will be pleased to report to his ex- 
cellency, the vice-president of the republic, and to pre- 
sent to him my assurance of respect. 

" God and Liberty ! Rancho de San Salvador, Febru- 
ary 27th, 1847. 
(Signed) 

ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA, 
To His Excellency, the Minister of War and Marine." 

Santa Anna was beaten shamefully, and was glad to 
take advantage of a pronunciamento, to quell which he 
went to Mexico. 

In the mean time General Scott, aided by the naval 
forces, had landed his men, and after a bombardment of 
six days the city of Vera Cruz surrendered, with the 
castle of San Juan and all other dependencies, to his 
arms. The Mexican troops, commanflprl hv Generals 



328 CERRO GORDO. 

Landero and Morales, laid down their arms and were 
paroled, and the American flag was raised over the city 
which never before had been in the power of an invader. 

General Worth was appointed temporary governor 
of Vera Cruz, from which General Scott at once set out 
towards Mexico. On the 17th of April he approached 
the defile of Cerro Gordo, always reputed impregnable, 
and defended by Santa Anna w^ith twenty thousand men, 
to oppose whom were twelve thousand Americans. 

The following orders and despatch express the events 
of this day better than any other account or description 
can, and will place General Scott at the head of the 
great commanders of the age. 

Head-Quarters of the Army, ) 
Plain Del Rio, April 17, 1847. j 

(General Orders, No. 111.) 

The enemy's whole line of intrenchments and bat 
teries will be attacked in front, and at the same time 
turned early in the day to-morrow — probably before ten 
o'clock, A. M. 

The second (Twiggs''s) division of regulars is already 
advanced within easy turning distance towards the ene- 
my's left. That division has orders to move forward 
before daylight to-morrow, and take up position across 
the National Road to the enemy's rear, so as to cut off 
a retreat towards Jalapa. It may be reinforced to-day, 
if unexpectedly attacked in force, by regiments — one or 
two taken from Shields's brigade of volunteers. If not, 
the two volunteer regiments will march for that purpose 
at daylight to-morrow morning, under Brigadier-General 
Shields, who will report tg Brigadier-General Twiggs on 
getting up with him, or the general-in-chief, if he be in 
advance. 



CERRO GORDO. 329 

The remaining regiment of that volunteer brigade 
will receive instructions in the course of this day. 

The first division of regulars (Worth's) will follow 
the movement against the enemy's left at sunrise to- 
morrow morning. 

As already arranged, Brigadier-General Pillow's bri- 
gade will march at six o'clock to-morrow morning, along 
the route he has carefully reconnoitred, and stand ready 
as soon as he hears the report of arms on our right — 
sooner, if circumstances should favor him — to pierce the 
enemy's line of batteries at such point — the nearer the 
river the better — as he may select. Once in the rear of 
that line, he will turn to the right or left, or both, and 
attack the batteries in reverse, or if abandoned, he will 
pursue the enemy wdth vigor until further orders. 

Wall's field battery and the cavalry will be held in 
reserve on the National Road, a little out of view and 
range of the enemy's batteries. They will take up that 
position at nine o'clock in the morning. 

The enemy's batteries being carried or abandoned, 
all our divisions and corps will pursue with vigor. 

This pursuit may be continued many miles, until 
stopped by darkness or fortified positions towards Ja- 
lapa. Consequently, the body of the army will not 
return to this encampment, but be followed to-morrow 
afternoon, or early the next morning, by the baggage 
trains for the several corps. For this purpose, the 
feebler officers and men of each corps will be left to 
guard its camp and effects, and to load up the latter in 
the wagons of the corps. 

As soon as it shall be known that the enemy's works 
have been carried, or that the general pursuit has been 
commenced, one wagon for each regiment, and one for 
the cavalry, will follow the movement, to receive, under 



330 CERRO GORDO. 

the directions of medical officers, the wounded and dis- 
abled, who will be brought back to this place for treat- 
ment in the general hospital. 

The surgeon-general will organize this important 
service and designate that hospital, as well as the 
medical officers to be left at that place. 

Every man who marches out to attack or pursue the 
enemy will take the usual allowance of ammunition, 
and subsistence for at least two days. 

By command of Major-General Scott, 

H. L. SCOTT, A. A. A. General. 

Head-Quarters of the Army, \ 

Plain del Rio, fifty miles from Vera Cruz, ( 

April 19, 1847. ) 

Sir : The plan of attack sketched in general orders 
No. Ill, herewith, was finely executed by this gallant 
army, before two o'clock P. M. yesterday. We are 
quite embarrassed with the results of victory — prisoners 
of war, heavy ordnance, field-batteries, small arms, 
and accoutrements. About three thousand men laid 
down their arms, with the usual proportion of field and 
company officers, besides five generals, several of them 
of great distinction: Pinson, Jarrero, La Vega, Noriega, 
and Obando. A sixth general, Vasquez, was killed in 
defending the battery (tower) in the rear of the whole 
Mexican army, the capture of which gave us those 
glorious results. 

Our loss, though comparatively small in numbers, 
has been serious. Brigadier- General Shields, a com- 
mander of activity, zeal, and talent, is, I fear, if not 
dead, mortally wounded. He is some miles from me 
at the moment. The field of operations covered many 
miles, broken by mountains and deep chasms, and I 



CERKO GORDO. 331 

have not a report, as yet, from any division or brigade. 
Twiggs's division, followed by Shields's (now Colonel 
Baker's) brigade, are now at or near Jalapa, and Worth's 
division is in route thither, all pursuing, with good 
results, as I learn, that part of the Mexican army — 
perhaps 6000 or 7000 men — who fled before our right 
had carried the- tower, and gained the Jalapa road. 
Pillow's brigade, alone, is near me, at this depot of 
wounded, sick, and prisoners, and I have time only to 
give from him the names of 1st Lieutenant F. B. Nel- 
son, and 2d C. C. Gill, both of the 2d Tennessee foot 
(Haskell's regiment), among the killed, and in the bri- 
gade 106, of all ranks, killed or wounded. Among the 
latter, the gallant brigadier himself has a smart wound 
in the arm, but not disabled, and Major R. Farqueson, 
2d Tennessee; Captain H. F. Murray, 2d Lieutenant 
G. T. Sutherland, 1st Lieutenant W. P. Hale (adju- 
tant), all of the same regiment, severely, and 1st Lieu- 
tenant W. Yearwood, mortally wounded. And I 
know, from personal observation on the ground, that 
1st Lieutenant Ewell, of the rifles, if not now dead, 
was mortally wounded, in entering, sword in hand, the 
intrenchments around the captured tower. Second 
Lieutenant Derby, Topographical Engineers, I also 
saw, at the same place, severely wounded, and Captain 
Patton, 2d United States infantry, lost his right hand. 

Major Sumner, 2d United States dragoons, was 
slightly wounded the day before, and Captain Johnston, 
Topographical Engineers — now lieutenant-colonel of 
infantry — was very severely wounded some days 
earlier, while reconnoitering. 

I must not omit to add that Captain Mason and 
2d Lieutenant Davis, both of the rifles, were among the 
very severely wounded in storming the same tower. 



332 CERRO GORDO. 

I estimate our total loss in killed and wounded may be 
about 250, and that of the enemy 350. In the pursuit 
towards Jalapa (twenty-five miles hence), I learn we 
have added much to the enemy's loss in prisoners, killed, 
and wounded. In fact, I suppose his retreating army to 
be nearly disorganized, and hence my haste to follow, 
in an hour or tw^o, to profit by events. 

In this hurried and imperfect report, I must not omit 
to say that Brigadier-General Twiggs, in passing the 
mountain range beyond Cerro Gordo, crowned with the 
tower, detached from his division, as I suggested before, 
a strong force to carry that height, which commanded 
the Jalapa road at the foot, and could not fail, if carried, 
to cut off the whole, or any part of the enemy's forces 
from a retreat in any direction. A portion of the first 
artillery, under the often distinguished Brevet-Colonel 
Childs, the 3d infantry, under Captain Alexander, the 
7th infantry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Plymton, and 
the rifles, under Major Loring, all under the temporary 
command of Colonel Harney, 2d dragoons, during the 
confinement to his bed of Brevet Brigadier-General 
P. F. Smith, composed that detachment. The style of 
execution, which I had the pleasure to witness, was 
most brilliant and decisive. The brigade ascended the 
long and difficult slope of Cerro Gordo, without shelter, 
and under the tremendous fire of artillery and musketry, 
with the utmost steadiness, reached the breastworks, 
drove the enemy from them, planted the colors of the 
1st artillery, 3d and 7th infantry — the enemy's flag still 
flying — and, after some minutes of sharp firing, finished 
the conquest with the bayonet. 

It is a most pleasing duty to say that the highest 
praise is due to Harney, Childs, Plymton, Loring, 
Alexander, their gallant oflScers and men, for this bril 



CERRO GORDO. 333 

liant service, independent of the great result which soon 
followed. 

Worth's division of regulars coming up at this time, 
he detached Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel C. F. Smith, 
with his light battalion, to support the assault, but not 
in time. The general, reaching the tower a few minutes 
before me, and observing a white flag displayed from 
the nearest portion of the enemy towards the batteries 
below, sent out Colonels Harney and Childs to hold a 
parley. The surrender followed in an hour or two. 

Major-General Patterson left a sick bed to share in 
the dangers and fatigues of the day ; and after the sur- 
render went forward to command the advanced forces 
towards Jalapa. 

Brigadier-General Pillow and his brigade twice 
assaulted with great daring the enemy's line of batteries 
on our left; and though without success, they contri- 
buted much to distract and dismay their immediate 
opponents. 

President Santa Anna, with Generals Canalizo and 
Almonte, and some six or eight thousand men, escaped 
towards Jalapa just before Cerro Gordo was carried, 
and before Twiggs's division reached the National Road 
above. 

I have determined to parole the prisoners — officers 
and men — as I have not the means of feeding them 
here, beyond to-day, and cannot afford to detach a 
heavy body of horse and foot, with wagons, to accom- 
pany them to Vera Cruz. Our baggage train, though 
increasing, is not half large enough to give an assured 
progress to this army. Besides, a greater number of 
prisoners would, probably, escape from the escort in the 
long and deep sandy road, without subsistence — ten to 
one — that we shall find again, out of the same body of 



334 CERRO GORDO. 

men, in the ranks opposed to us. Not one of the Vera 
Cruz prisoners is believed to have been in the lines of 
Cerro Gordo, ^ome six of the officers, highest in rank, 
refuse to give their paroles, except to go to Vera Cruz, 
and thence, perhaps, to the United States. 

The small arms and their accoutrements, being of no 
value to our army here or at home, I have ordered 
to be destroyed, for we have not the means of trans- 
porting them. I am, also, somewhat embarrassed with 

the pieces of artillery — all bronze — which we have 

captured. It will take a brigade, and half the mules 
of this army to transport them fifty miles.' A field- 
battery I shall take for service with the army ; but 
the heavy metal must be collected, and left here for 
the present. We have our own siege train and the 
proper carriages with us. 

Being much occupied with the prisoners, and all the 
details of a forward movement, besides looking to the 
supplies which are to follow from Vera Cruz, I have 
time to add no more — intending to be at Jalapa early 
to-morrow. We shall not, probably, again meet with 
serious opposition this side of Perote — certainly not, 
unless delayed by the want of transportation. 

I have the honor to remain, sir, with high respect, 
your most obedient servant, 

WINFIELD SCOTT. 

P. S. I invite attention to the accompanying letter 
to President Santa Anna, taken in his carriage yester- 
day ; also to his proclamation, issued on hearing we had 
captured Vera Cruz, &c., in which he says: — "If the 
enemy advance one step more, the national independence 
will be buried in the abyss of the past." We have 
taken that step. W. S. 

I make a second postscript, to say that there is some 



VINDICATION OF SANTA ANNA. 335 

hope, I am happy to learn, that General Shields may 
survive his wounds. 

One of the principal motives for paroling the pri- 
soners of war is, to diminish the resistance of other 
garrisons in our march. 

Hon. Wm. L. Marcy, Secretary of War. 

The consequences of this victory were felt at Mexico 
more immediately than any of the preceding triumphs, 
and caused Santa Anna to put forth, over the signature 
of one of his adherents, Manuel Maria Jimen, the fol- 
lowing vindication of his tactics and conduct, which 
appeared immediately afterwards in the government 
organ, el Diario del Gobierno : 

" The internal enemies of the country, the secret 
agents of our external enemies, those who are laboring 
to open to them the gates of the capital, neglect no 
means, however criminal, of fomenting dissensions and 
distrust among us, as more favorable to the designs of 
the invader is our own disunion than all the disasters we 
can suffer in combat. Hence the zeal and the bad faith 
with which they present to the public their accounts of 
the events of the war, disfiguring them in such a manner 
that the disasters of our army, as well in the north as 
in the east, may be attributed not to involuntary errors, 
but to treason. 

" With a like motive do they endeavor to depreciate 
General Santa Anna, knowing, as they do, that he is 
the enemy whom the North Americans most fear, and 
that he once out of the way, they will have removed 
the principal obstacle that they have met with up to the 
present time, in their career of destruction and conquest. 

" This idea predominating, these internal enemies of 



336 VINDICATION OF SANTA ANNA. 

the country have published various pamphlets, repre- 
senting the triumph obtained by our arms at the Angos- 
tura as a loss. At the present moment they are doing 
the same thins: in relation to the actions of the Tele- 
grafo and Cerro Gordo, in both of which they censure 
the general-in-chief in terms so severe, that it only 
remains to accuse him clearly and expressly of treason. 

" The editorial of the 38th number of the Bulletin 
of Democracy (whose authors are well known), is full of 
this kind of charges against Santa Anna, who is there 
accused of the loss of Cerro Gordo ; the article saying 
that all the bad fortune proceeded from a want of 
foresight in the preparations, and from a like want of 
judgment at the time of the attack, and from bad ar- 
rangements. We are given to understand that he sac- 
rificed uselessly a large portion of this force. And he is 
even blamed for not performing a miracle by raising, in 
a moment, a new army, just as if he w^ere in France in 
the time of the National Convention. We need only 
read, with a little attention, the said editorial, to pene- 
trate the depth and the wickedness of the design of its 
authors. Unjust men ! your calumnies suffice to detect 
your partiality and your insane intentions. 

" Without calling the attention of our readers to the 
documents published in the Diario del Gobierno, and in 
other papers, the Republicano, (which certainly cannot 
be taxed with partiality to Santa Anna), in its number 
of the 23d inst., gives a clear idea of what took place in 
this action — dissipates the rash imputations of our ene- 
mies — and depicting the conduct of the invader, his 
tactics, his numerical superiority, the advantages of his 
artillery, and all that contributed to facilitate his tri- 
umphs, demonstrates most completely, that our loss was 
the result of inevitable misfortune. 



VINDICATION OF SANTA ANNA. 337 

" In fact, our position was well chosen ; it was forti- 
fied as well as circumstances permitted ; its flanks were 
covered, and all was foreseen that was to have been 
foreseen in regular order, and in the usual tactics of 
war. True it is, that no expectation was entertained 
of the rare, bold, and desperate operation of the enemy, 
who, in the night between the 17th and 18th, broke 
through the woods, crossed a ravine up to that time 
never crossed, and taking in reverse the position which 
the main body of our army occupied, surprised it in the 
time of action, made a general attack on all parts at 
once, and cut off the retreat of the infantry, the artillery, 
and even a part of the cavalry. It is pretended that 
even the general ought to have foreseen this risk. But 
to this argument two sufficient replies may be made : 
First — that notwithstanding the old opinion, confirmed 
by the experience of the whole war from 1810 to 1821, 
that the road by which the enemy flanked us was im- 
practicable, the general did not neglect it, since he 
stationed, in order to cover it, the greater part of his 
cavalry in the mouth of the gorge ; and if this force did 
not fulfil the object of its mission, the fault should not 
be imputed to the general-in-chief. We do not intend 
here to examine and qualify the conduct of the chief or 
chiefs of the cavalry ; the fact is, that the point which 
this force should have guarded was left uncovered, and 
that is more than sufficient to justify General Santa 
Anna. 

" Secondly — a recent historical fact may serve for the 
second solution of the question. We refer to the pas- 
sage of Bonaparte over the great St. Bernard, executed 
likewise at nighty with such silence and despatch, that 
the Austrian general, deceived by the dexterity of the 
operation, said, on the following day, before he learned 
22 



338 VINDICATION OF SANTA ANNA. 

the result, < that he answered with his life, that the 
French artillery had not passed that way.' And if this 
happened in Europe, in the midst of a war that had 
formed so many expert commanders, it need not astonish 
us that like events transpire among ourselves ! Men are 
not gods!'' ****** 

After enlarging upon the particular instances of 
patriotism displayed by Santa Anna, from the beginning 
of his career down to the present time, his apologist 
concludes by the following peroration : — 

« Mexicans, be just ! Do not suffer yourselves to be 
deceived by perverse and evil-intentioned men ! Reflect 
that some of those writers, w^ho to-day are so eager to 
lead astray your opinions, to the prejudice of our well- 
deserving president, have sold themselves to him for 
friends — have flattered him in the season of his pros- 
perity, and now declare themselves his enemies w^hen 
fortune is against him. Examine well the facts — com- 
pare, judge with attention and impartiality; and it is 
sure that your conclusion must be, that gratitude is due 
,to Santa Anna, as one of the best servants of the repub- 
lic, both before and since its independence. 
(Signed) 

MANUEL MARIA JIMEN." 

Not satisfied with this explanation, Santa Anna attri- 
buted the failure to the misconduct of one of his officers, 
who replied ; and General Minon, w^ho had commanded 
his cavalry at Buena Vista, and on that occasion been 
similarly censured, also took occasion to reply, and 
charged the president with cowardice, and a catalogue 
of faults, the least of which was sufficient to cause his 
removal. That strife of words yet continues, and is not 
the least of the difficulties which oppress Santa Anna. 



minon's statement. 339 

From the letter of Minon, the following extracts 
may not be uninteresting, and will serve to show the 
tenor of the whole document : 

« In every battle which he has lost, and they are all 
those in which he has attempted to command in person, 
there was always some one who had caused the defeat, 
to blame ; at Jalapa, in 1822, Sr. Leno, who was shot 
through the body and abandoned, failed in the combi- 
nation; at Tolome, Landero and Andonaegui were 
culpable ; at San Jacinto, Castrillon ; and to-day, it is I. 
It is certainly sorrowful to see so celebrated a general 
always defeated and overcome, always and everywhere, 
by the faults of those he has with him. My astonish- 
ment arose from beholding the perfidy with which Gen- 
eral Santa Anna had acted in regard to me, in seeking 
a pretext, and nothing but a pretext, to_ palliate the pre- 
cipitation of which he had been guilty, and to liberate 
himself at the same time from the indestructible charges 
which had been made against him, for leaving San 
Luis in search of the enemy, without providing for any- 
thing — for having given battle to Taylor where he did — 
for the errors which he committed in the attack — for the 
absence of all directions during the battle, which might 
turn it to profit — for his retirement from the field with- 
out necessity — for his want of foresight — in fine, in 
providing for attention to the wounded, subsistence for 
the troops, and for their orderly retirement. 

«< The nation will know one day what that was which 
was called, without shame, the victory of Angostura. It 
will know that it had brave soldiers, worthy to rival, in 
ardor and enthusiasm, the best of any army whatever; 
that it had intrepid officers, who led them gallantly to 
the combat ; but that it had no general who knew how 
to make use of these excellent materials. The nation 



240 minon's statement. 

will know that if, on those memorable fields, a true and 
splendid victory was not achieved, no one was to blame 
but him who was charged with leading the forces, be- 
cause he did not know how to do it. According to the 
order of the attack, and with a knowledge of the posi- 
tions occupied by the enemy, speaking in accordance 
with the rules of art, we ought to have been defeated. 
We were not, because the valor of our troops overcame 
all the disadvantages with which we had to struggle. 
The battle of Angostura was nothing but a disconnexion 
of sublime individual deeds, partial attacks of the seve- 
ral corps who entered the action. Their chiefs led them 
according to the divers positions taken by the enemy, in 
consequence of the partial defeats which he suffered ; 
but there was no methodical direction, no general regu- 
lated attack, no plan in which the efforts of the troops, 
according to their class, were combined, that did or 
could produce a victory. General Santa Anna believes 
that war is reduced to the fighting of the troops of one 
and the other party, wherever they meet and however 
they choose. General Santa Anna believes that a battle 
is no more than the shock of men, with much noise, 
shouts, and shots, to see who can do the most, each in 
his own way. General Santa Anna cannot conceive how 
it happens that a victory may be gained over an enemy 
by wise and well-calculated manoeuvres. Thus it is 
that he has everywhere been routed ; and he always will 
be, unless he should have the fortune to meet with one 
who has the same ideas with himself in relation 
to war." 

This opinion of Minon is perhaps justified by 
facts ; Santa Anna at the head of the men of the tierra 
caliente, would be one of the most formidable enemies 
imaginable, but it may be doubted if, like his Teniente 



CONDITION OF MEXICO. 341 

Arista, he is not altogether incompetent to lead masses 
of troops. This is not an unusual failing, though the 
opinion of persons ignorant of tactics contravenes it ; 
for more than mere courage is required by the soldier, 
the minutiae of whose profession embrace details 
depending upon algebraic calculations and synthetical 
combinations, not easily intelligible to those who are 
not initiated by practice or theoretical instruction. 

The internal condition of Mexico since the war be- 
came certain, has not been harmonious. Many revolu- 
tions have occurred, one of which has deposed Herrera, 
and a second substituted Santa Anna for Paredes, who 
has been driven into exile. While the president has 
been at the head of the army, contests have occurred in 
the streets of Mexico, where Gomez Farias, Valencia, 
Salas, and minor men have controlled the city, seem- 
ingly reckless of the fact that the best portion of their 
country was in possession of an enemy. 

How Santa Anna was permitted to return to Mexico 
has been much discussed. It is not, however, denied 
that it was by the authority of the president of the United 
States ; w^hether wisely or not, history will show. 

Whether Santa Anna wishes to make peace or not, 
no one can tell, for he is so harassed with priests md 
politicos that he dares not now act openly. 

The conduct of the clergy in all the political events 
has been below contempt. Fostered for ages by the 
Mexican people, they have refused to pay one dollar 
towards the expenses of the w^ar, and have had power 
enough to cause the purest and most honest man in 
Mexico, Farias, to be stripped of his power as provisional 
vice-president, to which office he had been elected since 
the return of Santa Anna, and seem disposed to see the 

15 



342 CONDITION OF IMKXICO. 

government crumble above them ^\ithout being willing 
10 sustain it. 

A new constitution has, within the last few weeks, 
been inaugurated, and an election has been held, the 
result of which has not reached us as yet. So far the 
elections seem to involve no principle or policy, and it 
does not seem to make to Mexico or the world the 
least difference, whether Santa Anna, Eloriaga, Bravo, 
or Valencia be elected. In the mean time General 
Scott is marching on Mexico from the east, the western 
coast is controlled by the naval forces of the United 
States, General Taylor is master of the provincias 
internas, and General Kearney has no opponent . in 
California. The lesson of the past is, however, utterly 
lost on Mexico, in which all patriotism seems to be 
extinct. 

The Mexican forces have been uniformly defeated in 
every battle ; and horse, foot, and dragoons have given 
way before the charge of the American army. In the 
stirring events which have occurred, hundreds of men, 
previously unknown in the United States, have acquired 
fame and honor ; while in Mexico, no star has arisen to 
penetrate the gloom which obscures her prospects. In 
this hour of distress, the country turns from her army, 
w^hich long has weighed on her like an incubus, to find 
salvation in the right arms of her people. She has ap- 
pealed to that feeling, which in the United States made 
Marion triumphant ; which enabled La Vendee to set at 
defiance, for a series of years, the best armies of repub- 
lican France, and enabled the Switzers, after winning 
their freedom from Austria, to maintain it against the 
attacks of Burgundy. 

To triumph in this manner, a people must be virtuous ; 



CONCLUSION. 343 

and rlie success of the Spanish guerillas, under Espoz y 
Mina, Empecinado, and other chiefs, must be attri- 
buted to the fact, that while the rulers of the kingdom 
were corrupt and degraded as possible, the people and 
peasantry remained virtuous and brave, as they had 
been in the days when they beat back the Moors, and 
conquered Mexico and South America. Whether the 
people of Mexico can dare such a strife, history will 
show. It is, however, a hazardous experiment ; and 
one which, if it fail, subjects the conquered to the 
woful condition of dependence on the mercy of the 
conquerors. 

This book is now finished, and such as it is, is pre- 
sented to the reader. The author has sought no eclat 
or praise, other than that of offering a fair view of men 
and things in a country of which the most erroneous 
opinions are now entertained by the mass of his 
countrymen. 



THE END 



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